A big group.

Good morning.

It's an honor to be here.

To begin with, I'd like to thank the New York Fed for hosting this meeting and inviting me to join you.

It's fitting that the Treasury Market Conference is held each year in the fall.

Late fall offers us the opportunity to both look back and to look forward, and since the fall of last year, much has changed.

November 24 marked an inflection point for the nation and its fiscal future.

The American people had just elected President Trump to put the country on stronger financial footing.

The previous administration had run up the highest deficit in U.S. history outside of a recession

or wartime. As a result, inflation had skyrocketed to generational highs.

Families watched our hard-earned savings melt away as prices of consumer goods climbed even higher.

Seeking a course correction, voters elected President Trump in a landslide,

and they gave him a clear mandate to make America affordable again.

My commitment to that cause to improving affordability and putting our fiscal

house in order is what motivated me to come up from behind my desk in the private sector and to enter public service.

As a 79 Treasury Secretary, my duty is to serve as the primary caretaker of the Treasury market.

Maintaining a robust Treasury market and even strengthen it further is essential to making

America affordable again.

That's because Treasury yields set the global risk-free rate.

Domestically, the risk-free rate sets everything, sets pricing for everything from bank loans and home mortgages to stocks and corporate bonds.

In that sense, treasuries are not only the bedrock of the global financial system, but also the American dream.

Treasury yields have a trickle-down effect on the broader economy that determines whether a young

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