Fox Business says it exclusively obtained Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s response to Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s latest questions about rising Treasury yields. The Saturday letter rejects Warren’s account of what is driving borrowing costs and turns the exchange into a pointed argument over fiscal policy and financial-market expertise.
The dispute over yields
In an October 7 letter, Warren said the 10-year Treasury yield had reached 5.34% on September 30, its highest level since 2002. She argued that higher yields were feeding into mortgage, car-loan and credit-card costs while families were already dealing with inflation and elevated energy prices.
Warren blamed the rise partly on Trump administration policy and criticized Treasury’s long-end bond buybacks as ineffective. She asked Bessent to explain by October 21 whether Treasury planned to expand those purchases using its cash balance, what analysis it had conducted on household borrowing costs and what steps it would take to lower long-term yields. She also asked whether he would recommend ending the war in Iran as part of an effort to reduce inflation.
Those are Warren’s arguments. Her letter cites market data, agency releases and outside reporting, but the causes of long-term yields remain the central point of disagreement.
Bessent disputes the blame
According to Fox Business, Bessent called Warren’s concern difficult to treat as sincere and contrasted it with her support for Biden-era spending while inflation and the federal funds rate rose. He also said the administration’s tax package was helping families and workers, rejecting Warren’s claim that it primarily benefited wealthy households and corporations while adding to the debt.
The response ended with sharper personal barbs. Fox Business reports that Bessent repeated an offer for a “Foreign Exchange for Dummies” tutorial and said he would add “Fixed Income for Dummies” if Warren passed on the “Yale metric, not the Harvard curve.” Bessent previously taught economic history at Yale, while Warren is a former Harvard Law professor.
Fox Business also reports that Bessent added a handwritten Indigenous Peoples’ Day greeting below his signature. Warren’s October 7 letter requested answers to its policy questions by October 21.
