House Democrats, apparently frustrated by interruptions from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, decided to lay down the law—scolding and chastising him during Wednesday’s Ways and Means Committee hearing. Interruptions and delaying tactics, and apparent acts of “filibustering,” have been a hallmark of Trump administration officials’ testimony before Congress this week.
U.S. Rep. Stacey Plaskett, the Delegate from the U.S. Virgin Islands’ at-large district, said to Bessent, “We have seen since January 20th that the stock market overall has gone down 1.3% and gas has gone up.”
“Ma’am, that’s incorrect,” Bessent interjected.
“Excuse me,” Delegate Plaskett replied. “Let me get something straight with you first here,” she declared as the Secretary continued to try to interrupt.
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“I’ve seen you interrupt everyone. When you come to someone’s house, you respect their rules. And in this house, we don’t interrupt individuals, and you’re not going to interrupt my time. I’m going to give you time to respond,” she offered.
“You may want to jot down some notes about things that you don’t agree with me on, so that you can respond to them at that time, but while I’m speaking, as the person holding this time, you will refrain from speaking, sir, until I am done.”
“I look forward—” Bessent said, interrupting again.
“Until I am done, and then I will give you time to speak, okay?” Plaskett said.
Bessent later disputed Plaskett’s facts, telling her that “the S&P, if the congresswoman would care to check Bloomberg, the stock market as judged by the S&P, which is the most widely held index by Americans’ 401(k)s, is up on the year.”
As NJ.com reported, the “S&P 500 closed at $6,049.24 on Jan. 21, 2025 and closed at $6,038.81 on June 11, 2025.”
Plaskett to Bessent: “Excuse me. Let me get something straight with you. I’ve seen you interrupt everyone. When you come to someone’s house, you respect their rules. And in this house, we don’t interrupt individuals. And you’re not going to interrupt my time.” pic.twitter.com/ZfO8JtrYds
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 11, 2025
Plaskett was not alone.
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U.S. Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-CA) also berated Bessent for his constant interruptions.
“Unfortunately, you appear to be talking out of both sides of your mouth,” she told Bessent, “because you yourself have admitted, after conversations with Walmart, that some tariff costs are going to get passed on to consumers. And in fact, we’ve already seen that prices are rising on many everyday goods.”
“No, Congresswoman,” Bessent said, interrupting her remarks.
“Please don’t interrupt me,” Sánchez said.
“Today we had a 1.1% increase—” Bessent continued.
“The time is mine. Please don’t interrupt me.”
“And, and,” Bessent continued.
“I will ask you questions, and I will grant you an opportunity to answer them,” she explained, “but please don’t interrupt me during my time.”
“With pleasure,” Bessent said, interrupting her again.
“Okay, I know I’m a woman, but please try to limit yourself to answering my questions,” she urged, to which House Republicans reportedly groaned.
“No, I’m sorry,” Sánchez continued, addressing their response, “but we get talked over all the time and I don’t want that to happen at this hearing.”
Sanchez to Bessent: “Please don’t interrupt me during my time. I know I’m a woman.” pic.twitter.com/aJ6Pbxico7
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 11, 2025
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