By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER and JOSH BOAK WASHINGTON (AP) For the second time in two days, President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he would like to appoint Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to chair the Federal Reserve. Yet Bessent keeps saying he doesn’t want the job, Trump added, in comments to the U. S.-Saudi Investment Forum. “We’re thinking about him for the Fed, but he wants no part of it, he likes being secretary of the Treasury,” Trump said. “I think we’ll leave him so let’s cross your name off right, officially, right?” Trump has been sharply critical of the current Fed chair, Jerome Powell, whose term ends in May, for not cutting interest rates quickly enough. Trump’s pick as a replacement will almost certainly push for rapid interest rate cuts and likely institute wide-ranging changes in how the Fed operates. Bessent earlier this year published extensive criticisms of the Fed’s groundbreaking efforts to shore up financial markets and the economy after the 2008-2009 Great Recession and during the pandemic. Bessent is heading up the Trump administration’s search for a new Fed chair. Yet despite his protestations, he is also widely seen as a leading potential replacement for Powell. “He’s a top-tier candidate right now,” Stephen Moore, a senior economic adviser to Trump in his first term, said. Trump “wants to shake things up, so I think he wants an outsider.” Two of the five candidates Bessent has named are current Fed officials: Governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman. The other three would fit the outsider criteria: Kevin Hassett, currently a top White House economic official; Kevin Warsh, a former Fed governor who has been highly critical of the Fed; and Rick Rieder, a senior managing director at asset manager BlackRock. Late Tuesday, in an interview By mid-December, “the president will meet the final three candidates and hopefully have an answer before Christmas,” Bessent said. Associated Press Writer Fatima Hussein contributed to this report.
https://www.dailydemocrat.com/2025/11/19/federal-reserve-bessent/
Tag Archives: scott bessent
ABC’s Stephanopoulos Blasted by Sec. Bessent Over His Shutdown Hypocrisy [WATCH]
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent challenged ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on Sunday over his past comments blaming Republicans for government shutdowns, leading to a sharp exchange during an interview on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.”
The discussion focused on the ongoing federal shutdown and the Senate’s repeated failure to pass a Republican-backed continuing resolution aimed at reopening the government. Over 38 days, the Senate voted 14 times on the proposal. Fifty-two Republicans and three Democrats supported the measure, leaving it five votes short of the 60 needed to end the stalemate.
Stephanopoulos asked whether the Trump administration would consider supporting the elimination of the legislative filibuster as a way to resolve the impasse. Bessent quickly rejected the idea and turned the question back on Stephanopoulos.
“No, George. The best way to do it— and look, you were involved in a lot of these in the ’90s. And, you know, you basically called the Republicans terrorists and, you know, you said that it is not the responsible party that keeps the government closed,” Bessent said.
Bessent argued that Democrats now find themselves in the same position they once criticized.
“And so, what we need is five brave, moderate Democratic senators to cross the aisle, because right now it is 52-3, 52-3. Five Democrats can cross the aisle and reopen the government. That’s the best way to do it, George,” he added.
Stephanopoulos responded, “I can disagree with you about the history there, but we don’t have a history lesson right now.”
Bessent persisted, saying, “No, no, no. George, George, George. If you want, I’ve got all your quotes here. I got all your quotes here, George.”
“I went back, read your book. So you got one purchase on Amazon this week. And that’s very much what you said.”
The on-air exchange referenced Stephanopoulos’s role during the 1995-1996 government shutdowns when he served as a senior adviser in President Bill Clinton’s White House. At the time, Stephanopoulos was instrumental in shaping the administration’s public messaging against congressional Republicans, led by then-Speaker Newt Gingrich.
In a 2000 interview with PBS’s “Frontline” for its documentary “The Clinton Years,” Stephanopoulos acknowledged the Clinton administration’s strategy.
“Our strategy was very simple. We couldn’t buckle, and we had to say that they were blackmailing the country to get their way. In order to get their tax cut, they were willing to shut down the government, throw the country into default for the first time in its history and cut Medicare, Social Security, education and the environment just so they could get their way. And we were trying to say that they were basically terrorists, and it worked,” he said at the time.
Bessent’s comments highlighted what he characterized as a shift in the political narrative surrounding shutdowns. While Democrats previously accused Republicans of holding the government hostage to achieve policy goals, Bessent argued that the current situation reverses that dynamic, with Democrats now blocking a clean continuing resolution that would reopen the government.
The interview followed another tense moment for Stephanopoulos earlier in the month. On October 12, he abruptly ended an interview with Vice President J. D. Vance after accusing the vice president of dodging questions about Border Czar Tom Homan.
As Vance began to respond, Stephanopoulos cut the segment short mid-sentence, drawing criticism from viewers who accused the host of bias.
Bessent’s appearance on ABC further illustrated the growing tension between the Trump administration and major media outlets as negotiations continue to break the deadlock in Congress.
With only a handful of Senate Democrats needed to reach the 60-vote threshold, the administration has continued urging bipartisan cooperation to reopen the government.
https://www.lifezette.com/2025/11/abcs-stephanopoulos-blasted-by-sec-bessent-over-his-shutdown-hypocrisy-watch/
Scott Bessent Explains The Big Picture Everyone is Missing During the Shutdown [WATCH]
**Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Highlights Impact of Trump Administration’s Spending Cuts Amid Shutdown**
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated on Sunday that the Trump administration’s reduction in government spending has largely gone unnoticed during the ongoing shutdown but has played a crucial role in helping the United States avoid a recession.
Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Bessent discussed the administration’s fiscal policies alongside the Federal Reserve’s recent interest rate cuts. The Federal Reserve announced on Wednesday that it would lower its benchmark interest rate by a quarter-point, bringing the range to between 3.75% and 4.00%.
During the interview, CNN host Jake Tapper asked Bessent whether the U.S. risked entering a recession if the Fed continued cutting rates too aggressively.
“I believe that we are in a transition period here as we are seeing the Trump administration has cut back on government spending,” Bessent explained. “What has gone unnoticed during the shutdown is, for the fiscal year that ended September 30, the government spent less than it did the year before. And because the GDP grew, the deficit-to-GDP—which had been 6.4%, 6.5% deficit, the highest when we weren’t at war and weren’t in a recession—was brought down to 5.9%.”
Bessent continued, “So we are bringing down government spending, and I would think that the Fed would want to assist with that. Because if we go back and look, MIT just published a study that said 42% of the great inflation of 2022 came from excess government spending. So if we are contracting spending, then I would think inflation would be dropping. [If] inflation is dropping, then the Fed should be cutting rates.”
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### Major Spending Cuts Save Taxpayers Billions
The Trump administration began implementing major spending cuts earlier in 2025, targeting what officials described as “inefficient or duplicative” programs across multiple agencies. According to an October 4 update from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the administration’s cost-reduction initiatives saved an estimated $214 billion for taxpayers—roughly $1,329 per taxpayer.
These spending reductions coincided with a broader effort to rein in the federal deficit while addressing the shutdown’s fiscal impact. Administration officials have argued that reduced government outlays are helping stabilize inflation and ease pressure on working families, despite temporary disruptions caused by the shutdown.
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### Federal Reserve Rate Cuts and Policy Tensions
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell had previously warned that continued rate cuts could increase inflationary risks if not balanced by sound fiscal management. However, tensions between Powell and President Donald Trump over rate policy have been ongoing for months.
Trump has repeatedly called for the central bank to lower rates more aggressively to support growth, arguing that high interest rates are hindering small business expansion and homeownership. Powell said earlier this year that the Fed would have cut rates sooner if not for the trade and tariff policies enacted by the administration.
The Fed’s first rate cut came on September 17, lowering the benchmark by a quarter-point to a range of 4.00% to 4.25%. A second cut followed in October, bringing the rate to its current level between 3.75% and 4.00%.
Because of the government shutdown, most federal economic data releases have been delayed, leaving analysts without recent updates on job growth, consumer spending, or inflation trends.
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### Economic Outlook and Potential Risks
Tapper pressed Bessent on whether he believed the economy could slip into a broader recession if the Fed halts rate cuts.
“I think that we are in good shape, but I think that there are sectors of the economy that are in recession, and the Fed has caused a lot of distributional problems there with their policies,” Bessent said. “I wrote a 7,000-word essay on that. We’ve seen the biggest hindrance for housing here is our mortgage rates. So if the Fed brings down mortgage rates, then they can end this housing recession. Low-end consumers who have gotten killed under President Biden—these high rates are hurting them because they have debt, not assets. So I think that there are sections of the economy that could go into recession.”
Bessent reiterated his belief that the economy is in a “transition period,” contrasting his outlook with that of former Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. Yellen, under the Biden-Harris administration, characterized inflation as “transitory,” a view later proven incorrect as consumer prices surged during her tenure.
Bessent clarified that his use of “transition” referred instead to a short-term shift in economic conditions as the administration reduces spending and stabilizes long-term growth.
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*Watch the full interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.”*
https://www.lifezette.com/2025/11/scott-bessent-explains-the-big-picture-everyone-is-missing-during-the-shutdown-watch/