By Alexis Simendinger & Kristina Karisch
President-elect Trump won the November election with bold economic promises embraced by an electorate ready to hold him responsible if prices don’t ease, job prospects aren’t rosier and if Americans don’t cheer up.
Knowing he has a year or two to deliver, Trump took his time last year before naming hedge fund billionaire and political donor Scott Bessent as his choice to carry out his mix-and-match vision for tariffs, tax cuts, reduced federal spending, inflation relief, expanded U.S. growth and faith in Wall Street.
The president-elect wants Bessent, his pick to lead the Treasury Department, to be a top emissary with the divisive Congress, the Federal Reserve, big investors and among global partners and adversaries, including China and Russia.
It’s worth noting that Trump’s Treasury secretary in his first term, Steven Mnuchin, an investment banker and film producer, served four years and sailed past many of the dramas that blew through the Oval Office and the halls of Congress.
Bessent on Thursday carefully moved through Trump’s basic economic playbook during confirmation questioning by members of the Senate Finance Committee. He deferred to Trump’s signature themes and promised to provide advice to his boss.
The Wall Street Journal: Treasury secretary pick says Trump could bring “new economic golden age.”
Bessent, displaying the polite demeanor he learned in his home state of South Carolina, pledged to defer to Congress for its expertise, such as budgeting. He dodged specifics when possible and vowed to do more research, on health care, for instance.
Bessent will be confirmed by the Senate. His commitments Thursday carefully tracked Trump’s.
“We don’t have a revenue problem,” he said. “We have a spending problem.”
Bessent said he would be “100 percent on board” with increasing sanctions on Russia’s major oil companies. He wants to see the 2017 GOP tax law renewed before it expires this year. He said he’s committed to the needs of farmers, the tax challenges of small businesses and he wants Treasury workers to abandon teleworking and show up in their offices. The nominee challenged a suggestion that there is a “large motherlode” of wealthy tax cheats the IRS could identify with additional enforcement resources. He also suggested artificial intelligence and technology are the future on that score.
The Hill: Trump’s choice to lead the mammoth Department of Homeland Security, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R), appears today before senators. She’ll be questioned about her immigration plans.
Kash Patel, Trump’s controversial choice to shake up the FBI as its next director, is getting a closer background scrubbing from Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee, reports The Hill’s Rebecca Beitsch. Ranking member Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) has asked federal agencies that previously employed Patel to turn over specific information on possible misconduct, drawn from news reporting and detailed in writing. Patel’s confirmation hearing has not been scheduled. “Kash is proud of his service” at the Justice and Defense departments and in national intelligence “and looks forward to answering any of Senator Durbin’s questions at his confirmation hearing,” said Alex Pfeiffer, a Trump spokesperson.
▪ The Hill: Former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R), the president-elect’s onetime primary rival and now his pick for Interior secretary, sidestepped controversial Trump climate provisions during a largely cordial Senate hearing Thursday.
▪ The Hill: Trump’s pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, a part of the government squarely in conservatives’ crosshairs this year, former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) appeared during Senate questioning to be prepared to implement Trump’s deregulatory agenda — and on track for confirmation.
▪ The New York Times: Here are some of President Biden’s final actions in office to try to cement his legacy. Trump may undo them.
Senate addition: Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (R) will fill the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Trump’s pick to be secretary of State, announced Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) Thursday. Moody is expected to join the upper chamber next week and serve for at least two years.
Stormy House: Some Republican lawmakers are furious with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) after he ousted one of their own, Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), now the former chair of the Intelligence Committee. Erosion of trust within the GOP ranks is seen as injurious for the Speaker, whose legislative and political headaches are piling up, The Hill reports.
“It’s all happened under Johnson’s leadership,” said Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), referring to “too much disruption.”
