Trump's Treasury Secretary pick to face big questions at confirmation hearing
WASHINGTON - Wall Street veteran Scott Bessent, President-elect Donald Trump's pick for Treasury secretary, faces his Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday in front of a mostly friendly crowd but where he can expect a grilling from one of the leading Democratic liberals over financial deregulation that's considered a primary cause of past economic crisis.
Bessent, 62, is scheduled to appear before the Senate Finance Committee in the U.S. Capitol.
The former Soros Fund Management chief investment currently serves as CEO of Connecticut-based hedge fund Key Square Group, which he founded. If confirmed, Bessent would be the first openly gay Cabinet member of a Republican administration. He's also been known to cross party lines, hosting a fundraiser for then-Vice President Al Gore when he was running for president in 2000.
"Scott has long been a strong advocate of the America First Agenda," said Trump in a statement in November when he announced his Treasury nominee. "On the eve of our Great Country’s 250th Anniversary, he will help me usher in a new Golden Age for the United States, as we fortify our position as the World’s leading Economy, Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurialism, Destination for Capital."
In picking Bessent, Trump - despite his anti-establishment rhetoric - chose a less ideological, more conventional businessman for a senior post charged with advising the president on matters related to financial, economic and tax policy. A Yale graduate, Bessent has supported Trump’s economic policy of deregulation, increasing domestic energy production and tax cuts.
Ahead of the confirmation hearing, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., sent a letter on Sunday posing 180 different questions to Bessent and expressing concerns about his nomination.
“You have been an advocate for deregulation of banks and the financial industry,” wrote Warren, citing a November Wall Street Journal op-ed by Bessent in which he wrote that Trump had a mandate to reprivatize the U.S. economy through deregulation and tax reform to spur the supply-side growth.
“However, deregulation of the financial industry set the stage for the 2008 financial crisis and the worst recession in decades,” she wrote. “Ultimately, the crisis cost the U.S. economy nearly $20 trillion and as many as 10 million people may have lost their homes.”
“What specific deregulatory policies do you intend to implement and promote if you are confirmed as Treasury Secretary?,” Warren added, pointing out that deregulation also caused the more recent series of small- to mid-size bank failures.
During a speech at the Manhattan Institute in June, Bessent shared his own ideas to grow the economy, billing it as the "3-3-3" plan. It aims to spur a 3% growth in U.S. gross domestic product through deregulation and energy production, reducing the budget deficit to 3% of GDP by 2028 and increasing oil production by 3 million barrels a day.
Bessent has stated that one of his top priorities would be implementing Trump’s tax cut pledges and is expected to face questions on how he would reconcile the two objectives of reducing the deficit while also shrinking federal tax revenues.
Republicans have a 53-47 majority in the Senate - and a couple of them told Paste BN they are not worried about Bessent's chances of being confirmed.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said last month that Bessent appears to have a “very clear path” to confirmation.
"He's one of the smartest guys I've known," added Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., who has known Bessent for 15 years and told Paste BN that the hedge fund manager not only understands domestic finance but also international finance.
"He's gonna be a great secretary of Treasury,” Tuberville said.
Bessent is set to resign from his post at the Key Square Group and divest his shares from the company within 90 days of Senate confirmation, according to a letter Bessent sent last week to the Treasury Department.
He owns at least $520 million in assets, including more than $100 million in U.S. Treasury bills, as much as $5 million in art and antiques, a house in the Bahamas worth up to $25 million and up to $500,000 in Bitcoin ETFs (which Bessent said he would divest), according to his financial disclosure.
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House Correspondent for Paste BN. You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal