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$4.50 A Gallon!” Boyle PRESSES Bessent On Rising Inflation & Gas Prices #news #usanews #usanewstoday #todaynews
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00:00You will not believe what Treasury Secretary Scott Besant just called a 70-year-old economic
00:05benchmark on live television. Day 500 of this administration is here, and prices still haven't
00:11budged. They're higher than they've ever been. Inflation is climbing. Gas prices are spiking.
00:16Consumer confidence has crashed again, and healthcare costs keep rising because of a bill
00:22Besant himself helped push through over a year ago. So why won't he just admit it?
00:26Treasury Secretary Scott Besant found himself back on Capitol Hill, facing tough congressional
00:32scrutiny over the country's financial direction. Lawmakers hit him from multiple angles. But the
00:38conversation kept circling back to one issue everyone feels—everyday inflation. With fresh
00:44numbers showing 72% of the country unhappy with how prices are being handled, Representative
00:50Brendan Boyle pressed Besant on a bold claim from the administration's economic team that spending
00:56more at the pump is actually a sign of confidence in the future. Boyle opened by quoting National
01:01Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett directly. People are shelling out more for gas, but also
01:07more across the board, not just groceries, but restaurants too, and that this is supposedly
01:13a signal of optimism. Boyle asked point-blank whether Besant agreed that spending more on
01:18everything is really just a sign of a hopeful public. Besant stumbled, suggesting Hassett likely meant
01:25high discretionary spending. Boyle shot back. Is grocery spending discretionary? Is gas discretionary?
01:31Besant tried to backpedal, claiming he never mentioned gas specifically. Boyle read the quote
01:36again word for word. Gas was right there in it. This is where the hearing really turned.
01:41Besant had just attempted a clear dodge, trying to reframe rising costs as optional lifestyle spending.
01:48But groceries and gasoline aren't luxuries. They're bills nobody can skip. When milk and fuel prices
01:54climb, that extra spending signals financial strain, not economic cheer. If paying more just
02:01to survive gets rebranded as confidence, what does that reveal about how leadership actually views
02:06family budgets? Boyle saw the pivot instantly, encountered with hard polling numbers that left
02:12the Treasury Secretary cornered. Boyle laid out the data himself. Fresh Fox News polling showing 71%
02:19of Americans disapproving of the President's handling of the economy, including 40% of Republicans.
02:25On inflation specifically, disapproval hit 72%, outweighing approval 3 to 1. He asked Besant directly,
02:34are the American people right, or are they simply wrong? Besant's response leaned on the past,
02:39arguing Americans were hit hard under the previous administration and had lost roughly 22% of their
02:46purchasing power. Boyle wasn't having it, pointing out how often Republicans invoke the prior
02:51administration's name. Besant then pivoted again, this time citing Congress's own dismal approval
02:57ratings. Boyle had put a verified figure on record, 72% disapproval on inflation straight from Fox News
03:05polling. Besant's answer? Point backward to the last administration and cite an old purchasing power
03:10drop. But rehashing old pain doesn't explain whether families are getting relief today. Reminding people
03:17about yesterday's inflation doesn't lower today's grocery bill. When pressed further, Besant sidestepped
03:23again, bringing up Congress's approval numbers instead, which isn't an economic defense, it's a
03:29subject change. Boyle refused to let it slide, and next pulled out historical data stretching back to
03:351952, igniting the sharpest confrontation of the entire hearing. Boyle pressed harder, noting consumer
03:42sentiment sitting at an all-time low, the worst presidential economic approval since the Great
03:47Recession and the lowest consumer sentiment reading since that index began tracking in 1952. Besant pushed
03:54back hard, dismissing the data by claiming two-thirds of respondents were Democrats and calling the widely
04:00respected survey twaddle, insisting its voters turn out at low rates compared to Republicans. Boyle said he didn't
04:07even understand what Besant was arguing. Besant doubled down, insisting he knew exactly what he meant and that
04:14Boyle was simply citing facts he didn't like. Besant dismissing a seven-decade-old economic benchmark as twaddle
04:21became the defining moment of the exchange. The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index
04:27isn't some casual internet poll. It's a trusted indicator tracked closely by Wall Street and the
04:33Federal Reserve since 1952. Waving it off as partisan noise reveals something telling. When the numbers don't
04:40support the narrative, the response becomes attacking the messenger instead of confronting the public's
04:45real anxiety. But Boyle realized debating poll methodology wasn't landing. So in the final
04:51stretch, he changed course entirely, dropping survey statistics and grounding everything in one hard
04:57number. Day 500 and a specific promise made on the campaign trail. Boyle turned to a well-known 2024
05:04campaign pledge, one made repeatedly across Pennsylvania and every major battleground state.
05:10The promise to lower costs starting day one. Today marks exactly day 500 of this presidency,
05:17Boyle noted, and costs haven't dropped. They've climbed higher than ever. Inflation is up, gas is
05:23surging, consumer confidence has tanked again, and healthcare costs keep rising thanks to legislation
05:29Besant helped pass over a year ago. Why not just admit this presidency has failed on this front?
05:34Admitting the problem, Boyle argued, is the first step toward fixing it. Besant responded with
05:40statistics, 2.6% average GDP growth, strong private sector job creation, and real wage gains in every
05:48month except one. Boyle wasn't buying it, closing by describing a recent visit to a gas station in
05:54northeast Philadelphia, where drivers were paying over $4.50 a gallon and clearly frustrated. Boyle had
06:01asked a direct question about day 500 and the broken day one promise. Besant answered with GDP growth and
06:09job figures, numbers that don't lower the price of milk or fill up a gas tank. Faced with a concrete
06:15deadline, Besant leaned on broad macroeconomic averages instead of addressing the reality families
06:21face at checkout counters. GDP measures total national output, not what's left in a family's
06:27account after the bills are paid. Citing sweeping economic averages shifted focus away from the
06:33specific benchmark Boyle had set. 500 days in, households are still facing steep grocery bills
06:39and gas above $4.50 a gallon. Boyle showing up exactly on day, 500 wasn't a coincidence. It was a
06:47deliberate move to focus on measurable outcomes rather than vague talking points. 500 days is long
06:53enough that, give it more time, no longer holds up. The trend lines are clear. Inflation climbing,
06:59gas prices spiking, consumer confidence at historic lows, and healthcare costs still rising. None of
07:06those moved in the direction that was promised, yet the response was 2.6% growth in job numbers,
07:12real statistics that simply don't capture the daily squeeze on family budgets.
07:17GDP growth and hiring numbers measure the economy's size and activity, not what actually lands in people's
07:24pockets after expenses. An economy can grow while living standards shrink if inflation
07:29outpaces wages. And that's exactly the disconnect Boyle was trying to expose.
07:34Besant claimed real wages rose every month except one, meaning wages technically outpaced inflation
07:40most months. But that claim clashes directly with consumer sentiment data and the widespread
07:46frustration reported nationwide. Either the official numbers are missing something,
07:51or they simply don't reflect what working households are actually experiencing.
07:55One detail stands out on the record. Besant named a single exception to rising real wages.
08:01And that exception happened to be the most recent month referenced in the hearing.
08:05That's not a small footnote. It's the most current data point available. And if wages fell behind
08:10inflation there, the trend he was defending had just reversed by his own admission. Besant also
08:16sparked controversy by saying he wouldn't fight fire with arsonists, a clear jab blaming past policy for
08:22today's inflation. While that line underscored deep partisan tension, it left lawmakers without real
08:28answers on how current fiscal policy is affecting household budgets right now. For Congress, the goal
08:34wasn't political theater, it was an honest accounting of how economic policy is hitting family finances.
08:41Retreating into blame under pressure is a deflection tactic, not an economic argument.
08:46Boyle wrapped up his time by leaving the macro charts behind entirely, focusing on one concrete
08:52example. A gas station in northeast Philadelphia where drivers were paying over $4.50 a gallon.
08:59That single detail anchored the whole hearing in the real financial pressure everyday people
09:05are living through. A clear pattern ran through the entire exchange. Every time hard data came up,
09:11Boyle framed it as a simple choice. Either the documented numbers are accurate, or millions of
09:17dissatisfied Americans are simply wrong. Besant never fully committed to either answer. Instead of
09:22confronting today's costs directly, his testimony shifted between blaming past administrations,
09:28questioning survey demographics, and citing broad growth figures. Each dodge might be defensible on
09:34its own, but together they add up to something that looks less like an economic defense and more like an
09:40avoidance strategy. That pattern matters beyond a single hearing. Congressional oversight only works when
09:46officials actually answer the questions put to them. When a treasury secretary's testimony turns into a
09:52debate over whether polling is legitimate instead of a real accounting of economic conditions, the entire
09:58purpose of that oversight breaks down. Voters who expect accountability from their representatives
10:03should care about that regardless of party. The fact that 40% of Republicans in that same Fox News
10:09poll expressed disapproval shows this frustration crosses party lines. When a president's own base starts
10:16registering measurable discontent, the political ground underneath is shifting. The deflections
10:22throughout this hearing weren't accidental. They were carefully chosen to avoid handing out soundbites
10:27that might alienate the administration's own supporters. Boyle's choice to specifically name
10:32Pennsylvania wasn't random either. Pennsylvania was a decisive battleground state in 2024,
10:38and the day one promise carried real weight there, because voters believed it and voted accordingly.
10:43Paying $4.50 a gallon 500 days later makes clear that everyday costs remain far above what voters were
10:51told to expect, and that gap isn't closing on its own. As long as it stays open, hearings like this
10:57one
10:57will keep happening across Washington. Either the nationwide growth numbers are delivering real relief to
11:03families, or millions of households struggling with $4.50 gas and rising grocery bills are carrying a burden
11:11in Washington won't acknowledge. Both can't be true at once. Officials can point to the past or wave off
11:17trusted consumer data, but the congressional record keeps every answer on file, permanently.so we want
11:24to know what you think. Does this defense sound like genuine optimism, or has Washington lost touch with
11:30what's happening at the kitchen table? Drop your take in the comments below. And if you want to keep
11:34seeing hearings like this one broken down with real transparency, hit like and subscribe to the
11:40channel. Thanks for watching.