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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news as sent to Washington.

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Speaker 2: President Trump reaching across the arm, asking Democratic Senator Elizabeth

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Speaker 2: Warren to support his effort to credit card interest rates

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Speaker 2: at ten percent after facing opposition from his own party.

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Speaker 2: The Republican Congressman French Hill, chairman of the House Financial

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Speaker 2: Service Committee, joins us now from Capitol Hill to respond

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Speaker 2: to that and a whole lot more. Congressman, it's good

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Speaker 2: to see history is littered with examples, full of examples

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Speaker 2: that when you introduce price controls, you end up with

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Speaker 2: restricted supply. Congressman, is this proposal going to end up

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Speaker 2: any differently?

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Speaker 3: Happy New year, Jonathan. Great to be with you. Congratulations

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Speaker 3: on becoming a dad. So happy for you and your family. Look,

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Speaker 3: this proposal is a price control, and I think I've

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Speaker 3: heard from Republicans and House that they have concerns about it.

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Speaker 3: What we are in agreement with President Trump on is

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Speaker 3: that we want to reverse the curse of the Biden

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Speaker 3: years and taxation, regulatory and government policies. So we want

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Speaker 3: to work to pass by twenty first Century Housing Act,

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Speaker 3: which would lower home construction costs. We want to pass

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Speaker 3: the Main Street Capital Access Act, which would lower compliance

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Speaker 3: cost and refocus the bank regulators on safety and soundness,

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Speaker 3: tailoring regulations to bank complexity. And when you think about

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Speaker 3: the regional banks you just talked about and the community banks,

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Speaker 3: particularly those banks under ten billion dollars, they make sixty

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Speaker 3: percent of the one to four family home loans in

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Speaker 3: this country. So we believe that with the tax benefits

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Speaker 3: from the one Big Beautiful Bill, lowering compliance costs, focusing

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Speaker 3: and tailoring regulations, and focusing on dropping the regulatory burdens,

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Speaker 3: and trying to build homes in this country, these are

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Speaker 3: bullish signs for the GDP for the nation. We don't

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Speaker 3: want to do anything that throws off that gross domestic product.

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Speaker 3: And one of the things I heard from colleagues is

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Speaker 3: two thirds of GDP and the US is consumption. And

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Speaker 3: so if credit availability is denied or reduced, that could

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Speaker 3: impact growth for twenty twenty six.

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Speaker 2: Congressman, do you think they proposal as it stands could

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Speaker 2: have a chilling effect on credit?

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Speaker 3: Well, I think this is what people that I've heard

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Speaker 3: from in the House Republican Conference have said to me,

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Speaker 3: is they think, gosh, this could mean that those Americans

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Speaker 3: with lower credit scores have their credit purtailed in some way,

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Speaker 3: even by temporary and proposal like this. And you know

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Speaker 3: we've campaigned against the government price controls in the twenty

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Speaker 3: twenty four election in Kamala Harris's efforts to put in

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Speaker 3: nationwide rent control, for example, Congressman.

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Speaker 4: Which is why it's so curious the President is getting

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Speaker 4: on the phone with the likes of Senator Elizabeth Warren

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Speaker 4: and continuously has this text exchange we've learned through axios

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Speaker 4: with Zorammom, Donnie, I think he is moving too far

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Speaker 4: to the left and almost out of where your party is.

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Speaker 3: Well. I just think that Republicans want to work with

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Speaker 3: President Trump to accomplish his goal reverse the curse of

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Speaker 3: the Biden policies and regulation, taxation, open up the economy.

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Speaker 3: Besides our tax policy and the big Beautiful bill, I

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Speaker 3: really believe that our mainstream Capital Access Act will make

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Speaker 3: capital more available for small businesses all across the nation,

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Speaker 3: produce economic growth, particularly in the home building area. Mike

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Speaker 3: Flood's twenty first century housing build that we put together

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Speaker 3: lowers regulatory costs on building new homes, opens up things

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Speaker 3: like the Home program and the CDBG program to private

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Speaker 3: sector partnerships to build more housing. We want more housing available,

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Speaker 3: we want better at better prices, and that's the tack

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Speaker 3: that we're taking. I think these are the priorities of

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Speaker 3: the President.

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Speaker 4: Congressman, as the chair of the Financial Services Committee, have

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Speaker 4: you spoken to Chair J. Powell since the subpoena was

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Speaker 4: delivered to him from the DOJ?

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Speaker 3: I have Chairman Powell called and told me that this

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Speaker 3: process was taking place.

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Speaker 4: And does he have plans to come to the Hill

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Speaker 4: to testify.

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Speaker 3: Well, we've invited the Chairman to testify for his semi

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Speaker 3: annual Humphrey Hawkins testimony and we're working out the date now.

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Speaker 3: We'll do that typically in coordination both with the FED

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Speaker 3: and with the Senate Banking Committee, so that we can

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Speaker 3: get the FED chairman up for his semi annual testimony

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Speaker 3: on the Hill.

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Speaker 1: Congressman, do you agree with the efforts put forward by

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Speaker 1: Senator Tillis talking about potentially stiming any of the candidates

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Speaker 1: that President Trump is putting forward or will put forward

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Speaker 1: for the Federal Reserve until the subpoena is removed or

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Speaker 1: this issue is resolved.

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Speaker 3: Well, you know, my attitude about this is really simple,

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Speaker 3: which is FED independence, doesn't mean the Fed's immune from

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Speaker 3: criticism or governors at the FED or immune from criticism.

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Speaker 3: And if people have questions and concerns about the construction

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Speaker 3: project down there, about how expensive it is to build

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Speaker 3: something in Washington, d C. How expensive it is to

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Speaker 3: build something after a forty year high in inflation from

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Speaker 3: the FED and fiscal policy mistakes made at the end

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Speaker 3: of the pandemic, those are legitimate questions. But to try

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Speaker 3: to criminalize it and threaten people with a grand jury

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Speaker 3: over disputes about that construction, I just I don't agree

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Speaker 3: with that, and I think the Congress can do oversight

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Speaker 3: about the construction project. And I think, as I said

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Speaker 3: in my statement, I think this is a distraction from

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Speaker 3: our partnership with President Trump in lowering cost of living

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Speaker 3: for our citizens through access to increasing access to capital,

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Speaker 3: lowering the cost of building a home in this country,

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Speaker 3: getting the economy growing along with all the improvements, the

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Speaker 3: tremendous improvements we've had for working families that we passed

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Speaker 3: in the One Big, Beautiful Bill last year.

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Speaker 1: It's actually illegitimate this particular subpoena.

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Speaker 3: Well, I don't know that it's illegitimate because I'm not

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Speaker 3: at the Justice Department, and I'm not the US attorney

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Speaker 3: for the District of Columbia. I'd say it is, in

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Speaker 3: my personal opinion, an overreaction to concerns about the construction

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Speaker 3: at the FED, and I don't agree with that approach.

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Speaker 4: You've been friends with him for decades. Do you think

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Speaker 4: he added to this distraction by coming out with a

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Speaker 4: rare video as the markets were opening up an Asia

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Speaker 4: instead of just replying to the subpoena.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think we'll always second guess whenever we make

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Speaker 3: a public statement as a public figure. I won't second

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Speaker 3: guess the decision that he took about that. I'll just

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Speaker 3: let it play out the way it is. But I

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Speaker 3: do believe that trying to criminalize that kind of behavior,

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Speaker 3: I just don't agree with that.

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Speaker 4: How delayed do you think this could make going through

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Speaker 4: the process of the next FED chair?

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Speaker 3: Well, I think it could throw it off track. I

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Speaker 3: think it's a distraction to Treasury Secretary Bessence very able

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Speaker 3: partnership with the President to identify a new FED chair,

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Speaker 3: something they've worked on for months, and the President has

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Speaker 3: had interviews consistently over the last few weeks, and he's

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Speaker 3: close to taking a decision, and that this decision. Whoever

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Speaker 3: made the recommendation to do this, I think was a

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Speaker 3: mistake because I think, as I've said, it distracts from

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Speaker 3: my economic agenda benefiting working families with lower cost and

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Speaker 3: more accessibility to capital and housing. And it's a distraction

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Speaker 3: to Treasury Secretary Vesset and President Trump's excellent work to

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Speaker 3: identify a new leader for the Federal Reserve, something that

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Speaker 3: we want and we want clarity on on Capitol Hills.

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Speaker 3: So that's why I think whoever made a recommendation like

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Speaker 3: this was not wise.

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Speaker 4: It hasn't been a distraction from markets, though they pretty

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Speaker 4: much shrugged it off. Do you think the markets don't

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Speaker 4: view this as real threat to independence?

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Speaker 3: Possible. I don't know that it's a threat to independence.

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Speaker 3: I think it's a distraction to the work we're trying

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Speaker 3: to do here to move the economy forward. To complement

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Speaker 3: the big tax changes we made to benefit working families

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Speaker 3: last year, we want to do the same thing this

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Speaker 3: year to open up regulatory policy, make it easy not

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Speaker 3: only just to permit the growth of the energy industry

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Speaker 3: in the country and critical minerals. These are goals of

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Speaker 3: the President, but we also want to reduce that regulatory

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Speaker 3: burden on how's it construction and capital access for the

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Speaker 3: American economy. And if we don't have a nominated and

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Speaker 3: confirmed Feeder Reserve chair, that's a distraction to getting that

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Speaker 3: done in the right way, and I think it throws

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Speaker 3: the President's mission off track. That's why I called it

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Speaker 3: a distraction.

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Speaker 2: I'm sticking with Congressmen. Always appreciate your time and thank

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Speaker 2: you for the congratulations. I promise you this. I'll introduce

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Speaker 2: a little guy to SEC football later this year. I

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Speaker 2: can't make a promise that he's going to be a

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Speaker 2: razorback fan, though, okay, there's going to be a winning.

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Speaker 3: See French So we got to talk about we'll.

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Speaker 2: Try and work it out. Congressman. Thank you. Congressman french

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Speaker 2: Hill with the latest