← Videos · Economy, Tariffs & Trade

Lutnick Testifies on the Commerce Department's FY2027 Budget Before a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee, Apr. 22, 2026

April 22, 2026 · PBS NewsHour · 1:50:45

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick testified on the President’s fiscal year 2027 budget request for the Department of Commerce before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies on April 22, 2026, in PBS NewsHour’s live carry of the hearing. Ranking Member Van Hollen’s opening charged that the proposal repeated the prior year’s cuts: the Economic Development Administration and the Minority Business Development Agency proposed for elimination, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership eliminated, NIST cut by 54 percent, NOAA by 27 percent and the International Trade Administration by 25 percent, as he stated the figures, alongside his estimate that the administration’s tariffs had cost the American people $166 billion — about $1,700 per family — criticism carried here as he stated it.

Lutnick’s testimony answered with the investment record. “Over the past 15 months, President Trump has proven that the American economy is the strongest and most resilient in the world,” he said, citing Micron’s $200 billion investment in memory semiconductor manufacturing in Idaho, upstate New York and Virginia, TSMC’s $165 billion advanced-manufacturing investment, and Texas Instruments’ $60 billion for seven U.S. semiconductor fabs across three mega-sites in Texas and Utah, as he stated the figures. Van Hollen also pressed him on an unanswered letter from Senators Merkley and Van Hollen seeking documents on the Epstein matter after the February hearing; Lutnick answered that he had answered every question on the topic before the committee, that he had “nothing to hide,” and that he had voluntarily agreed to sit within two weeks and answer any and all questions on the topic before their House colleagues, as he stated it.

Why it matters

The FY2027 Senate hearing is the midterm-year statement of the Lutnick record, and both sides framed it as one: the ranking member’s bill of particulars — agency eliminations, deep NIST and NOAA cuts, and a per-family tariff cost — against the Secretary’s semiconductor investment ledger. The figures each side put on the record here, attributed to their speakers, are the claims the FY2027 appropriations outcome and the investment announcements will be checked against.

Scoreboard watch

Scoreboard watch: Lutnick’s FY2027 investment claims as he stated them on April 22, 2026 — Micron $200 billion, TSMC $165 billion, and Texas Instruments $60 billion for seven U.S. fabs. Flagged for the scoreboard editor; no entry is published from this page.

Sources: PBS NewsHour, “WATCH LIVE: Lutnick testifies on Trump’s Commerce Department budget request before Senate committee” (live carry, Apr. 22, 2026, embedded above; testimony as delivered by Secretary Lutnick and members of the subcommittee). Alternate carries of the same hearing (CBS News; Face the Nation; The Hill) are recorded in the site index, not separately paged.