mr. lawson. >> mr. rose, the gentleman from tennessee is now recognized for five minutes. >> thank you for being with us today chairman powell. i am a vocal advocate for putting our federal government on a more sustainable fiscal path our federal debt now stands at 22 trillion, more than 22 trillion the interest on that debt is a big federal spending item amounting to about 360 billion last year. that was approximately 8% of all federal spending interest on the debt is becoming the fastest rising element of our federal budget our net interest expense could increase substantially if and when interest rates eventually return to more historically typical levels it seems possible that we might even soon spend more on interest than on our national defense because we have to in order to service our debt the president's own budget from 2018 forecasted that net interest expense will exceed defense discretionary spending by 2026. it looks like the federal deficit this year will exceed 1 trillion as it will in th

mr. lawson. seen thethat we have gains of the past decade accruing to the upper income groups and passing the middle and lower income groups. can you expand on the long-term systematic risks that such inequality would introduced in the economy? if it continues in the present course? the history has been that people have generally been able to progress through time and be economically better off than their predecessors. abouts how people think -- have thought about life in our system. the data show that is less and less true. it is true for fewer than it used to be. that is not good. we went prosperity to be spread as -- we want prosperity to be spread as broadly as it can. we want there to be probably -- we want there to be progress for as many as we can. we went mobility. we want the outcomes to be fair. if you do not have that, you ask, what is the cost of it? i think the costs are big. that would include a loss of faith in our institutions to deliver that. it is a very important problem to add

mr. lawson, the gentleman from florida is now recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, madam chair. mr. powell and the committee. could you elaborate how the top 1% of u.s. families own 40% of the wealth in this country? how did we get to that particular point? do you see any kind of chaepgofn america. we're a very rich country compared to other countries. how did we get to the point where 1% own 40% of the wealth in this country? >> what i've seen and what i've mentioned in my testimony that's troubling is that a couple of things. first median incomes and lower incomes have stagnated compared to those at the high end. there was a time not so long ago when there's also a disparity between the wealthiest and the least but nowhere this large. those people in the middle and lower end of the wage and wealth spectrum have seen their, their wealth and wages move up but much less than not at the top. that is -- that's troubling. the other thing that's troubling, sort of a separate issue is lack of mobility. so the chances of being -- if you're born in the bottom 25% of wealth of anything yo

mr. lawson, the gentleman from florida is recognized for five minutes. lawson: thank you, madam chair. elaborate how to the top 1% of u.s. families own 40% of the wealth in this country? how do we get to that particular point? -- in the any kind of future? the top 1% on 40% of the wealth in america. we say we are a rich country compared to other countries. how do we get to the point where 1% own 40% of the wealth of this country? i have seen: what and what i've mentioned in my testimony that is troubling is a couple things. and lowerian incomes incomes have stagnated compared to those at the high end. there was a time not to long ago , there is always a disparity between the wealthiest in the least, but it is nowhere near this large. those people at the middle and the lower end of the wage and wealth spectrum have seen their wealth and wages move up, but much less than those at the top. that is troubling. the other thing that is troubling, sort of a separate issue, his lack of mobility. if you are born at the bottom of -- bottom 20% of wealth, you can calculate, what are the chances em

mr. lawson. you said we've seen the gains of the past decade accruing to the upper income groups and passing the middle and lower income groups can you expand on the long-term systematic risks that such inequality would introduce in the economy of such if it continues on the present course and into the future? >> so it -- i think the tradition has been or or the hi that people have generally been able to progress and through time be economically better off than their predecessors and their parents and grandparents and that kind of thing and i think that's how people think about -- that have thought about life in our system and i think the data show that that's less and less true. it's still true for many, but it's true for fewer than it used to be, and that's not good i mean, we want prosperity to be spread as broadly as it possibly can, and we want there to be progress for lots of people, and we want mobility from the bottom to the bottom and vice versa we want the outcomes to be fair. so, and i

mr. lawson and miss asme. you said we've seen gains of pass decade accruing to the upper groups and passing lower and middle income groups. can you comment on long-term systemic risks such inequality would introduce into the quality would continue on the present course into the future? >> i think the tradition has been or the history has been that people have generally been able to progress through time, be economically better off than their predecessors, their parents and grandparent that kind of thing and i think that's how people think about, have thought about about our system. i think the data show that is less and less true. it is still true for an. but true for fewer than it used to be but that's not good. we want prosperity to be spread as broadly as it possibly can and we want there to be progress upward for lots of people. we want mobility, from the bottom to the top, vice versa, we want the outcomes to be fair. so if you don't have that, what is the cost of it really? i think the costs are big. that

mr. lawson, is recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, madam chair. it's a great day in america. doctor, welcome to the committee. when i was five years old, we lost everything, house and everything, and moved a number of times. six in the family. my father had to recover and eventually we built a house, and i still own that house today after they are gone. so i do believe that if people work hard enough and they want to survive, they can survive, sometimes without the government help because there was no government help then. but one of the things that i would like to do, as you said earlier in your testimony -- and i lived in all kind of conditions, you know -- is to ask for the help from your department and to develop housing and i'm going to give you a chance to respond to that. and what i mean by that is to try to see if we can move people out of public housing into homeownership. a certain portion of the rent might go into a deferred account where eventually they can get enough money to get a down payment and be able to live in a home. the other thing is with all the millen

lawson muse is in our newsroom with ak. closer loo >> reporter: wendy, today reporters tried to have the president clarify what he meant, but instead mr. trump used his e podium to pil on to his previous comments saying he believes theour members, which he calls the squad, hate america. they are fee to leave if they want, and if they want to leave, that's fine, and if they want to stay that's fine. >> ds it concern you that many people saw that tweet as racist and that white nationalist groups are finding common cause with you on that pot? >> doesn't concern me because many people agree with me, and all i'm saying they want to leave theyan leave. >> reporter: president trump ignored multiple questions about where exactly he wanted thes women to go. all four are u.s. citizens and three were born here in this country. the lawmaking a new conference that we'reeholdrsre monitoring. earlier we heard from alexandria ocasio-cortez. >> he relies on racism, division and anti-immigrant sentiment to consolidate power because he does not have a positive vision for the future of america. i think there'sgy stto divide the country because the more t