President-elect Trump’s Treasury nominee Scott Bessent fired back at Sen. Sanders after repeatedly questioning him about Biden’s comments about “oligarchy.”
Scott Bessent, President-elect Trump’s nominee to head the Treasury Department, argued with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., over whether the United States is headed toward an oligarchy.
Wednesday, President Biden said in his farewell speech that “an oligarchy is taking shape in America, of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our fundamental rights, our freedoms and the opportunity for everyone to progress.”
In response, Sanders said he agreed with Biden and specifically called out tech giants Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg during Bessent’s confirmation hearing Thursday before the Senate Finance Committee.
“The three billionaires you named all made their money themselves,” Bessent said. “Mr. Musk came to the country as an immigrant.”
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Scott Bessent, President-elect Trump’s nominee for Treasury Secretary, testifies during his Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing in the Dirksen Building on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Sanders interrupted Bessent and repeated his question.
“Well, I would like to note that President Biden awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to two people who I think might qualify for his oligarchs,” Bessent said.
Bessent’s comment referred to billionaires George Soros and David Rubenstein, who received the award from Biden earlier this month. Bessent, himself a hedge fund billionairepreviously worked for Soros.
“This is not a condemnation of any individual,” Sanders said. “I’m just asking you, with so few people [having] so much wealth and power, do you think this is a form of oligarchic society? »
“Senator, I think it depends on the ability to increase or decrease revenues,” Bessent said.
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Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, October 6, 2021. (Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)
Sanders interrupted Bessent again and eventually dropped the subject before asking Bessent if the hedge fund billionaire “would work with those of us who want to raise the federal minimum wage to a living wage to get millions out of Americans from Poverty.”
“Senator, I think minimum wage is more of a state and region issue,” Bessent said.
“You don’t think we should change the federal minimum wage?” Sanders said. “We get $7.25 an hour.”
“No, sir,” replied Bessent.
Sanders is a strong advocate for raising the federal minimum wage and introduced legislation in 2023 that would raise it to $17 by 2028.
The state of Vermont, where Sanders is from, raised its minimum wage from $13.67 to $14.01 an hour this month. The federal minimum wage has remained at $7.25 since 2009.
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President-elect Trump’s nominee for Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, arrives for a meeting with Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, December 10, 2024, in Washington, DC (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images/Getty Images)
Bessent discussed a range of policy issues with lawmakers on Thursday, including tariffs, tax cuts and sanctions against Russia.
Bessent said renewing the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 that Trump approved during his first administration is paramount. Many of the measure’s reforms are set to expire in 2025, but not renewing the cuts would hurt the middle and working classes, Bessent said.
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“This is the most important economic issue of the moment,” Bessent said.
“If we do not renew the extension, then we will face economic calamity. And, as always with financial instability, it will fall on the middle and working class.”
