Rating member Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., questions Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent through the Senate Banking, Housing and City Affairs Committee listening to titled “The Monetary Stability Oversight Council’s Annual Report back to Congress,” in Dirksen constructing on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026.
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Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren is looking President Donald Trump’s bluff after he claimed to be “ending” the affordability disaster throughout his State of the Union handle, opening a brand new entrance within the battle that would decide November’s midterm elections.
“Your claims are instantly at odds with the day-to-day experiences of American households, who’re scuffling with rising prices of necessities, together with meals, housing, well being care, little one care, and electrical energy,” Warren, D-Mass., wrote in a letter to Trump, which was shared completely with CNBC after being despatched late Wednesday.
“Regardless of your claims, you haven’t ‘solved’ affordability or ‘defeated’ inflation. As an alternative, over the previous 12 months, costs have skyrocketed for American households,” Warren, the highest Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, wrote.
Warren’s letter is the launching level for a frontal assault on Trump and congressional Republicans forward of the 2026 midterms, which may very well be determined over affordability. Trump’s approval ranking on the economic system has plummeted as voters categorical concern in regards to the excessive price of dwelling, a distinction with an economic system he mentioned was “roaring” throughout his State of the Union handle.
Now, Democrats are hoping to grab the chance to leverage affordability and kick Republicans out of energy in Congress. Warren made clear the letter is barely her first foray into knocking the president on affordability, as Democrats race across the nation promoting their financial message earlier than November.
“Over the approaching weeks, I shall be writing to Administration officers, corporations, and trade representatives instantly about your chaotic tariffs and failed financial insurance policies — looking for solutions for the American people who find themselves being pressured to pay extra on every thing from groceries to housing,” Warren mentioned.
Warren late Wednesday additionally despatched a letter to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy saying the net retailer was tardy in publicly saying that Trump’s tariffs had contributed to cost will increase on its platform since their enactment. She additionally requested Amazon to reply to a sequence of questions on its future plans on worth hikes given Trump’s pledge to seek out methods tariffs in place.
Spokespersons for Amazon and the White Home did not instantly reply to CNBC’s request for remark.
Trump has at occasions instructed he’s getting critical about addressing affordability issues. He is known as for a cap on curiosity on bank cards, which he didn’t point out in his speech. He is additionally known as for a ban on institutional buyers from shopping for properties, which he did point out. Each are additionally priorities of Warren’s and the progressive left.
However in his State of the Union handle, Trump laid blame solely on Democrats for affordability and argued his administration has solved the issue, as polls persistently present elevated financial concern from voters.
“You brought on that drawback,” the president mentioned. “They knew their statements had been a grimy, rotten lie. Their insurance policies created the excessive costs, our insurance policies are quickly ending them.”
US President Donald Trump gestures as he delivers the State of the Union handle within the Home Chamber of the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on February 24, 2026.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | Afp | Getty Photos
Whereas general inflation has cooled considerably from current highs, the price of many on a regular basis items stays excessive, particularly in contrast with earlier than the Covid-19 pandemic. Electrical energy costs have skyrocketed amid elevated demand from knowledge facilities, grocery costs stay excessive and housing prices have stayed inflated. Trump’s tariff agenda has additionally contributed to lingering excessive costs.
Trump doubled down on issuing tariffs by way of different means throughout his handle, after the Supreme Court docket knocked down the authority he had been utilizing to implement them.
The tariffs will “stay in place below absolutely permitted and examined various authorized statutes,” he mentioned.
To Warren, that solely supplied ammunition.
“Fairly than offering aid to shoppers, you’re pursuing further across-the-board tariffs by way of different mechanisms — opening the door to yet one more wave of worth hikes,” she mentioned in her letter.
