Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent offered a unique fix for sharply falling consumer confidence, which is now at the lowest level in twelve years — even worse than during the COVID-19 pandemic.

During a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Thursday, U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE), told the Treasury chief, “despite all this progress, we’re seeing consumer confidence is not really rebounding the way that the economy seems to be.”

“In your opinion,” Ricketts then asked Bessent, “what more can we in the Senate be doing with regard to consumer confidence and making, you know, obviously — we had 40-year-high inflation under the Biden administration — but what more can we be doing in the Senate to be able to help out with confidence in consumers?”

Bessent replied immediately.

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“Other than telling consumers to turn off MSNBC,” he said, referring to the rebranded MS NOW.

“A large part of it is a survey problem, where Democrats vote very low, Republicans are more realistic, and then we end up, what we’re seeing,” he added, suggesting that the problem is not the economy — despite what experts see as persistent inflation and a “hiring recession,” but how people who watch or read a single news outlet perceive the economy.

.@SenatorRicketts: “What more could we be doing in the Senate…to be able to help out with confidence…of consumers”@SecScottBessent: “Other than telling consumers to turn off MSNBC…it is a survey problem, where Democrats vote very low and Republicans are more realistic.” pic.twitter.com/HgwM2YULv5

— CSPAN (@cspan) February 5, 2026

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Indiana Republicans are pushing controversial “good citizenship” legislation that would require educators to teach students they should have children only after getting married. Critics warn that bringing these lessons into classrooms could stigmatize students from single-parent or unmarried households.

The legislation, Senate Bill 88, also promotes high school completion, full-time employment, and marriage as parts of being a good citizen, according to the Indiana Capital Chronicle.

The bill’s author, Indiana Republican State Senator Gary Byrne, “described the proposed additions as an expansion of the ‘Success Sequence,’ a three-pronged theory designed to help young adults avoid poverty and enter the middle class.”

“The Success Sequence outlines three simple steps that researchers have consistently shown helps individuals to avoid poverty,” Byrne said.

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Byrne cited research from the Brookings Institution and from a conservative think tank, the Institute for Family Studies (IFS), which describes such instruction as “a proven formula to help young adults succeed in America.”

“The data is striking,” Byrne said. “More than half the people who complete none of these three steps live in poverty. Among those who complete all three, the numbers dropped to just 3% that would live in poverty.”

NBC News reported that “not everyone shares excitement over the success sequence — which may come across as innocuous advice, but detractors say is built upon dubious data, overlooks racial disparities and shames students who are raised in single-parent households.”

A Brookings Institution paper reported that “While the analysis cannot prove that following these norms causes income to increase, we find that the likelihood of being poor when following all three rules is extremely low.” It also stated that “causation might easily run in the reverse direction.”

Democrats challenged Byrne’s legislation.

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Speaking to the proposed in-school instruction, Indiana Democratic Senate Minority Leader Shelli Yoder told the Indiana Capital Chronicle, “Waiting until marriage to begin having children — and there sits children, who knows the makeup of their homes — and I just don’t know how that creates a positive, encouraging or confidence-building environment for students in that classroom.”

“I just don’t think it’s necessary to begin instilling areas of judgment with students who are trying to do their very best in school and going home to their families that they love,” she added.

Leader Yoder told The Indiana Citizen that the legislation “stigmatizes how students view their own identity within their families.”

“She described the language as ‘fraught with shame’ and questioned whether it belongs in civics courses, adding that it sends a ‘complicated message’ about who qualifies as a good citizen.”

“The student sitting there is going, ‘Huh, my parents aren’t good citizens,’” Yoder told NBC News. “Questioning good citizenship because I was a surprise, or my mom got pregnant and had me before getting married or never got married.”

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After being introduced as the “Greatest of All Time,” President Donald Trump used his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast to launch a partisan attack on Democrats.

“I don’t know how a person of faith can vote for a Democrat,” he told the largely conservative Christian audience. “I really don’t.”

“And I know we have some here today, and I don’t know why they’re here, because they certainly don’t give us their vote,” he complained.

Trump then turned his sights onto voter ID.

“I certainly know that we’re not gonna be convincing them to vote for a little thing called voter ID,” the president said of Democrats.

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“It polls at 97 percent,” he alleged. “And even the Democrats, the people, the voters, are at 82 percent for voter ID, but the leaders don’t want to approve it.”

“It’s polling at over 90 percent,” he claimed.

According to the Pew Research Center, majorities of both parties support voter ID, with an average of 81 percent.

Trump then attacked Democrats, alleging, “they cheat.”

He also praised himself, saying, “I’ve done more for religion than any other president,” and declared, “not too many presidents have done too much for religion.”

“They want to be neutral or against. You know, the Democrats are against” religion, he charged.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: “I’ve done more for religion than any other president.”

“I don’t know how a person of faith can vote for a Democrat. I really don’t.” pic.twitter.com/yAKnfe9vLT

— Fox News (@FoxNews) February 5, 2026

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