June 24, 2026
WHEN: Today, Wednesday, June 24, 2026
WHERE: CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street”
Following are excerpts from the unofficial transcript of a CNBC interview with Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” (M-F, 9AM-12PM ET) today, Wednesday, June 24. Following is a link to video on CNBC.com: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2026/06/24/sen-elizabeth-warren-kevin-warsh-is-boxed-in-by-president-trump.html.
All references must be sourced to CNBC.
WARREN ON PRESIDENT TRUMP CANCELING HOUSING BILL SIGNING
WARREN: Donald Trump has made clear that he isn't worried about families’ rising expenses. He said that affordability is a hoax made up by Democrats. He said he doesn't care about family's economic pressure, and I think his exact quote on inflation was he loves the inflation, but not withstanding Donald Trump, Democrats and Republicans came together in the House, came together in the Senate, and we are now put together the biggest housing bill in 34 years, and it does two major things. First, it increases housing supply all across the country, which will help bring down prices, and second, for the first time ever in America, it says no to private equity. Here is one area you can't just come in, buy up all the housing, and turn America into a nation of renters. So big deal for families whose housing prices over time will come down, and I'm glad to see it turn into law.
WARREN: So look, I just want to say on his point, he talks about mortgage rates, he wants to bring down interest rates in this country, then change your damn policies, right? The reason that costs are up are because of Donald Trump's tariffs, because of Donald Trump's energy policies, because of Donald Trump's health care policies, and because Donald Trump decided to start a bombing war halfway around the world. The reason we have higher interest rates now than we otherwise would is laid directly at the feet of Donald Trump, and he wants lower interest rates than change your policies.
WARREN ON WHY SHE THINKS PRESIDENT TRUMP CANCELED THE SIGNING
WARREN: I'm sorry if you're asking me to get into Donald Trump's head and figure out what's going on there, you need somebody else. I just, I don't have any idea. This just doesn't make any sense, other than whatever it is he wants to do is a complete indifference to the cost squeeze on American families, and to genuine efforts to do something about it. You know, he could be over here trying to claim a victory lap, and instead he's saying no, no, he doesn't want anything to do with it. It's because he really doesn't care about American families and doesn't care about the fact that prices are up and the promises he made to lower costs on day one have not only come to nothing, prices are higher on groceries, prices are higher on health care, prices are higher on on virtually everything that Americans buy because of Donald Trump's policies. Democrats are making this argument, and we're proud of this bill, and it shows that even when Democrats are in the minority, when we don't run the house, we don't run the senate, we sure don't run the White House. Nonetheless, we will put our shoulders to the wheel, and we will deliver lower costs for American families, and if we get the majority in the House or the Senate, you're going to see a lot more cost reduction because of our work.
WARREN ON WHETHER THERE WILL BE MORE OPPOSITION TO PRIORITIES OF THE ADMINISTRATION
WARREN: Look, the Republicans have distinguished themselves as a group by their absolute inability to stand up to Donald Trump. There has been only one basic move that Republicans in the Senate can make, and that is to bow down to the great Trump. Maybe that will change. I don't know, but what I do know is that the American people are counting on us on doing the hard work of government, and that's what this road to housing bill is all about. We did the hard work, we reached out to mayors all over this country, we put together this bill, good for families everywhere, whether they're Republicans or Democrats. And now Donald Trump acts like a petulant child, and isn't he, won't show up for the ceremony to sign it. You can't make this stuff up, and we can all laugh, except this is really serious. This is really serious for the young family that can't buy a home. This is really serious for the renter who sees his rent going up again and just doesn't know how he's going to cover both health insurance and rent. This is serious business, and this is one big effort to lower costs, and Donald Trump doesn't want to be anywhere near it.
WARREN ON THE FED AND RATES
WARREN: Look, Donald Trump has put Kevin Warsh and the Fed in a box. If they raise interest rates, that puts the squeeze harder on American families and unemployment, and if they lower interest rates, Donald Trump's increases, because of tariffs, because of energy policies, really threatens runaway inflation, and so Warsh is boxed in. The only thing I heard that was interesting about that is Warsh did, in effect, he understands he's boxed in, but he doesn't plan to talk about it. He intends to say less. I got to say, I'm not sure how that solves anything.
For more information contact:
Stephanie Hirlemann
CNBC
