Tag: Bessent

Washington
CNN
 — 

The Senate confirmed Scott Bessent as Treasury secretary on Monday, elevating the hedge fund manager to the new administration’s top financial job as President Donald Trump forges ahead on an ambitious economic agenda.

The vote was 68-29.

As head of the Treasury, 62-year-old Bessent faces pressure to address the federal debt limit and work with congressional Republicans to extend Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. He’ll also have to contend with Trump’s plans to enact tariffs on goods coming in from Mexico, Canada and China, which poses risks for the American economy.

During his confirmation hearing earlier this month, Bessent voiced support for making the 2017 tax cuts permanent and argued that the issue with the federal budget is spending, and not revenues. He also claimed that Trump’s economic plans would lower consumer costs and boost wages.

Bessent, who advised Trump on economic policy during his campaign, is the founder of hedge fund Key Square Capital Management. He previously was the chief investment officer at Soros Fund Management, a hedge fund started by Democratic megadonor George Soros. Bessent is the first out gay Treasury secretary and the first LGBTQ Senate-confirmed Cabinet member in a Republican administration, according to The Associated Press.

When Trump named Bessent as his pick for Treasury secretary in November, he touted him as a “strong advocate of the America First Agenda,” and said that he would “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, while always, and without question, maintaining the US Dollar as the Reserve Currency of the World.”

Washington — The Senate voted to confirm Scott Bessent as treasury secretary on Monday, as Senate Republicans work to quickly install President Trump’s picks for top administration posts. 

In a 68 to 29 vote, the Senate confirmed Bessent, the first Senate-confirmed openly gay Cabinet member of a Republican administration.

Bessent, 62, is the founder of Connecticut-based hedge fund Key Square Group. The incoming treasury secretary appeared before the Senate Finance Committee earlier this month, which advanced his nomination on a bipartisan basis.  

The nominee for treasury secretary appeared before the Senate Finance Committee earlier this month, which advanced Bessent’s nomination on a bipartisan basis last week.  

“Mr. Bessent has decades of academic, professional and leadership experience relevant to this position, as well as the gravitas, demeanor and character to be an effective secretary,” Sen. Mike Crapo, the finance committee’s chairman, said ahead of the vote to advance Bessent’s nomination out of committee. “There is no doubt that Mr. Bessent is an excellent choice for secretary of the treasury.”

Bessent outlined in his opening statement to the committee that he was born and raised in South Carolina’s lowcountry, where he said his family struggled financially, and he first began working at the age of nine. He went on to attend Yale University and started working in finance. He and his husband, former New York City prosecutor John Freeman, have two children.

“My life has been the only-in-America story that I am determined to preserve for future generations,” Bessent said. 

Bessent said his work in the private sector has given him a “deep understanding” of the economy and markets, which he said will be invaluable in crafting economic policy. But he acknowledged that he has never served in government and intends to lean on others for counsel. 

The billionaire, a former executive with Soros Fund Management, provided economic advice to the Trump campaign and has been a vocal supporter of Mr. Trump’s policies in recent years — from tariffs to spending cuts. 

Bessent said during the committee hearing that he believes the president has a “generational opportunity to unleash a new economic golden age that will create more jobs, wealth and prosperity for all Americans.” 

“Today, Americans face significant challenges in an economy that has not created enough opportunities for working men and women,” Bessent said, pointing to an affordability crisis and housing shortage. He said the federal government has a “significant spending problem,” adding that “we must work to get our fiscal house in order” and adjust discretionary spending.

As treasury secretary, Bessent would oversee the department that manages the nation’s finances, as well as the IRS, the nation’s tax agency.

Among his priorities, Bessent called the extension of Mr. Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, some of which are set to expire at year’s end, the “single most important economic issue of the day.” If the tax cuts aren’t extended, Bessent warned, the nation would face “economic calamity.”

Bessent’s confirmation vote comes as the Senate has since Mr. Trump took office last week  confirmed a handful of his Cabinet and top administration picks, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. 

This week, the upper chamber is expected to push forward with a handful of other confirmation votes, while some of the most controversial nominees — Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for secretary of Health and Human Services and Kash Patel for FBI director — come before Senate committees for confirmation hearings.