Trump's choice for treasury secretary questioned on the economy

We can usher in a new, more balanced era of prosperity that will lift up all Americans and rebuild communities and families across the country,

he added

If Congress fails to act, Americans will face the largest tax increase in history, a crushing $4 trillion tax hike,

Bessent said

We cannot allow a player like this to flood our markets."

Bessent

I believe that they will increase real wages and lower inflation closer to the Federal Reserve's 2% target, as it did during President Trump's first administration,

Scott Bessent told the U.S. Senate Finance Committee

I think it depends on the ability to move up and down the income,

Senator, ... Bessent said before Sanders cut him off

I would note that the President Biden gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to two people who I think would qualify for his oligarchs,

Bessent said

I think if any officials in the Russian Federation are watching this confirmation hearing, they should know that if I'm confirmed, and if President Trump requests as part of his strategy to end the Ukraine war, that I will be 100% on board with taking sanctions up - especially on the Russian oil majors - to levels that would bring the Russian Federation to the table,

Bessent said

We must secure supply chains that are vulnerable to strategic competitors, and we must carefully deploy sanctions as part of a whole-of-government approach to address our national security requirements,

Bessent also said in the remarks

If we do not renew and extend, then we will be facing an economic calamity,

Bessent said

Treasury - along with the whole of government and Congress - has used its borrowing capacity to save the union, save the world, and save the American people,

Bessent said

I think on monetary policy decisions, the FOMC should be independent,

Bessent said, referring to the Fed's rate-setting panel, the Federal Open Market Committee

Critically - critically - we must ensure that the dollar remains the world's reserve currency."

Despite Trump's longstanding complaints about a strong dollar, Bessent said

Productive investment that grows the economy must be prioritized over wasteful spending that drives inflation,

Bessent testified

Lindsey Grahamsouth Carolina Republican Senator

Your ship came in with this guy."

Graham added

We must make permanent the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,

he added

I was born and raised in the South Carolina Low Country,

What he's saying ... Bessent is planning to tell the committee in his opening statement, shared with Axios

If you are an autoworker in Detroit and someone who owns a competitor in the manufacturing sector has the president’s ear … that might raise pretty significant concerns about your industry and your job,

said Donald Sherman, executive director and chief counsel of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington

These are people who have never served in a full-time role in the US government,

Jeff Hauser – executive director of the Revolving Door Project, which monitors executive branch appointments – said of several Trump choices

I don’t think anybody knows what they are going to be, how they are going to be organized, who is paying them and whether this is going to be a shadow government or an actual government entity,

he said

David Wesseljournalist

What the markets and the business community want is to know that there's a grown-up at the table who doesn't think that cutting taxes excessively and running up the debt is a good idea,

Wessel said