On Wednesday, Rep. Cindy Axne (IA-03) pressed Wells Fargo President and CEO Charles Scharf to retain as many employees as possible at the Wells Fargo location in Des Moines following a report about the company’s plans for a major retreat from its mortgage lending operations. Wells Fargo employs more than 13,000 people in central Iowa.

The company has already given nine rounds of layoff notices to more than 350 Iowans since April.

“Is Bloomberg correct when they said you’re planning a major retreat out of the mortgage business? This is a really easy question. Yes or no?” Rep. Axne asked.

“The mortgage market is substantially lower today than it was,” Scharf said.

“What I did think I heard from you is that with the 13,000 Iowans, if I’m hearing you correctly, you will do everything in your power to find another job for them within the other parts of Wells Fargo that are located in Iowa. Is that correct?” Axne asked.

“That is something that we do across the whole country, not just in Iowa,” Scharf said.

Watch the full exchange here.

Rep. Axne also asked Mr. Scharf to confirm that Wells Fargo would reimburse travel expenses for employees that need to travel to seek abortion care, amid Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds’ efforts to use the courts to revive a 2018 abortion ban that was previously blocked.

In 2018, Rep. Axne exposed Wells Fargo after it laid off 400 employees in Des Moines and outsourced jobs overseas, helping those workers secure skills training and other assistance.

Original source can be found here.