Scott Bessent on Monday secured confirmation to lead the Department of the Treasury, putting President Trump’s top economic nominee in place ahead of a daunting GOP push to enact Trump’s ambitious economic agenda.
Senators voted 68-29 on Bessent’s nomination.
The chamber had teed up the final vote during a rare Saturday session that top Republicans held as part of their weeks-long process of confirming Trump’s Cabinet choices.
“He brings a wealth of private sector experience in the economy and markets to his new role, as well as the concern for the needs of working Americans,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) in his floor remarks on Monday, calling Bessent an “example of the American dream in action.”
Bessent, a billionaire hedge fund manager and investor, faces a number of policy challenges as the new administration tries to move quickly on implementing its economic agenda.
Perhaps the biggest will be coordinating with Congress on the extension of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, significant portions of which expire at the end of this year. Bessent supports extending the cuts.
The extension will likely be done as part of a package Republicans aim to pass through a process known as reconciliation. Doing so would bypass the Senate filibuster and require only GOP votes — but would require near-unanimity within the fractious House GOP conference.
Republicans favor the cuts but are divided on a number of individual provisions, including the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap. There are also disagreements about which parts of Democrats’ 2022 Inflation Reduction Act to get rid of and which to keep.
Many Republicans are also concerned about the level of the national debt, which the Trump tax cuts would expand by $4.6 trillion. Current national debt stock is $36 trillion, though about 20 percent of that is money the government effectively owes itself.
In addition to extending the 2017 tax cuts, President Trump proposed several additional cuts while on the campaign trail, including canceling taxes on tips and overtime, doing away with double taxation for Americans living abroad, and creating a tax deduction for people who take care of their families. Bessent will need to shepherd these proposals through Congress to see which ones will get traction with lawmakers.
Bessent noted to the Senate Finance Committee earlier in January that Trump’s pledge to cancel taxes on tips and overtime would affect people in the “lower two quintiles of the income distribution.”
“That would go a long way toward addressing the affordability crisis,” he said.
The pressure on Republicans to get in sync on taxes is mounting. House Republicans are at a retreat in Florida this week with President Trump to see if they can hash out their differences.
“At the top of the Republican agenda is extending that tax relief to help our economy and the American people thrive,” Thune said. “I deeply appreciate the fact that Mr. Bessent shares that commitment.”
Bessent takes control of the Treasury with a humming U.S. economy. Gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 3.1 percent in the fourth quarter and 3 percent in the third. Corporate profits were nearly tied with record highs in the third quarter after ratcheting up to 9 percent of domestic income following the pandemic.
However, inflation is showing some signs of life, having ticked up three months in a row to an annual increase of 2.9 percent in December, causing the Federal Reserve to pump the brakes on its rate cutting schedule. Prices, not counting food and energy, in the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge are up to a 2.8 percent annual increase.
Bessent on Monday became the first openly gay Cabinet official in a Republican administration to win full Senate confirmation.
He is the fifth nominee to be Senate-approved since Trump’s inauguration last Monday, following Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
With Bessent’s confirmation in the rearview mirror, the Senate will turn its attention to greenlight ingformer Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.) to become secretary of Transportation.
Duffy is expected to pass easily after he secured a 28-0 vote out of the Senate Commerce Committee.
