Trump’s Treasury Pick Vows to Give Back to the Rich in Bleak Hearing

Scott Bessent, Donald Trump’s nominee for treasury secretary, made it clear during his confirmation hearing Thursday that he’s only interested in protecting the interests of the rich and powerful.

The hedge fund manager with a net worth of at least $500 million repeatedly spiked down questions about whether he would support working-class priorities. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders asked Bessent about his position on raising the minimum wage.

“Shamefully, the federal minimum wage, despite the efforts of myself and other people here, [has] not been raised since 2009, and remains an unbelievable $7.25 an hour,” said Sanders. “Will you work with those of us who want to raise the federal minimum wage to a living wage, to take millions of Americans out of poverty?”

“Senator, I believe that the minimum wage is more of a statewide and regional issue,” Bessent responded.

“So you don’t think we should change the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour?” Sanders pressed.

“Uh, no sir,” Bessent replied. Four years ago, Trump said he would consider raising the minimum wage to $15, if it didn’t hurt small businesses. More recently, he’s dodged the question altogether.

Later, Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock asked whether Bessent would be interested in ending tax cuts for the rich to help reduce the national deficit—but the two didn’t quite see eye to eye on the policy.

“Do you agree that ending the tax cuts for those making more than $400,000 would help close the deficit and reduce our national debt?” Warnock asked.

“Senator Warnock, I do not,” Bessent said. “I believe that you would capture an inordinate amount of small-business people who largely are in that cohort of $400,000 to $1 million—”

“So you wouldn’t cut it off at $400,000,” Warnock replied. “What about $1 million?”

“Again, I believe these are small-business pass-through owners. And I believe that we, as I said before, Wall Street’s done great, it is time for Main Street to do well. And small businesses need to drive what I call the reprivatization here away from this government spending.”

Warnock kept pressing him, and Bessent quickly revealed that was hoping to keep tax rates the same as in Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Warnock asked about those making more than $10 million.

Bessent insisted that it was more important “that we put in incentives for them to invest.”

“What about $1 billion?” Warnock asked.

Bessent replied, “Again, I think that these are the job creators.”

“So there’s no income level for which you would support raising taxes?” Warnock said.

Bessent replied that there was “no income level” for which he would support raising taxes.

While Trump has not said that he would raise taxes, his plan to enact sweeping tariffs on imported goods from Mexico, Canada, and China will function as a sort of sales tax, driving up prices on consumer goods.

On Thursday, Bessent also refused to specify where exactly he stood on the future of Medicaid, and claimed that he would leverage negotiations to maintain the critical health care program to “empower” states.