The U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs published prepared remarks from Ranking Member Senator Elizabeth Warren delivered at the Exchequer Club, arguing that strong headline indicators mask worsening affordability and financial fragilities. Warren warned that a combination of shifting tariffs, deficit-expanding tax policy and further financial deregulation could raise the likelihood of a broader economic downturn. In the speech, Warren cited long-run wage stagnation alongside sharp increases in key household costs, including housing, child care and health care, and pointed to rising reliance on household debt. She linked recent tariff changes to renewed price pressures in tariff-exposed categories and argued that policy uncertainty has delayed interest-rate cuts, keeping borrowing and mortgage costs higher, while also weighing on hiring and investment. Warren also criticised a budget bill she characterised as a USD 4 trillion tax giveaway that would increase federal debt and reduce health insurance coverage, and she pointed to risks from looser bank oversight, changes to stress testing, efforts to weaken the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and cryptocurrency legislation including the GENIUS Act and pending market structure proposals. Warren called for an “affordability agenda” that pairs domestic investment with targeted trade measures, strengthens bank oversight and capital standards, and increases enforcement against consumer fraud. She also advocated federal investment to expand housing supply, citing her proposal to build or rehabilitate three million homes, and highlighted child care, education and health care as priority areas for cost reduction and labour force participation.

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