As Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent will be fourth in line of presidential succession
The Senate voted to confirm Scott Bessent as Treasury secretary on Monday, making him the nation’s highest-ranking gay government official in history.
Bessent was confirmed by a vote of 68-29, with 16 Democrats crossing party lines to back the 62-year-old financier. Bessent eclipses former Sec. of Transportation Pete Buttigieg for the distinction of highest-ranking gay government official in American history. As Treasury secretary, Bessent will be fourth in line of presidential succession. Buttigieg was 14th in line under former president Joe Biden.
Bessent, the founder of Key Square Group, faced a relatively tame confirmation process that was preceded by a messy behind-the-scenes fight to land the nomination. Some of President Donald Trump’s allies wanted Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary nominee, for the more prominent Treasury role. But Trump opted for Bessent, whom he has called “one of the most brilliant men on Wall Street.”
Bessent, testifying before the Senate Finance Committee this month, said his primary focus at Treasury will be to corral federal spending and argued aggressively to extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts.
“We do not have a revenue problem in the United States of America. We have a spending problem,” said Bessent, who later warned that the United States is “barreling towards an economic crisis at year’s end” if Congress fails to extend the Trump tax cuts.
Bessent took a hawkish stance towards China for flooding global markets with cheap exports and said he supports potential sanctions against Russian energy companies over the war in Ukraine.
“China has the most unbalanced economy in the history of the world,” said Bessent, “and they are attempting to export their way out of that, as opposed to doing a much-needed internal rebalance.”
He said he “will be 100 percent on board” with sanctions against Russian oil companies to bring Russia “to the table” regarding Ukraine.
Trump, whose critics have accused him of being too soft on Russia, threatened last week to enact “high levels” of tariffs and sanctions on Russia if President Vladimir Putin does not end his war in Ukraine. “We can do it the easy way or the hard way—and the easy way is always better,” Trump said.
Bessent will replace Janet Yellen, the first woman to lead the Treasury. Yellen, who was voted in 84-15, faced scrutiny throughout her term for downplaying historically high inflation rates as “transitory.” Many voters cited economic concerns and inflation—which topped out at around 10 percent during Biden’s term—as the top issue influencing their vote in November.
But not everyone is enthusiastic about Bessent’s record-setting rise.
Liberal groups that touted former president Biden’s LGBT nominees have either ignored Bessent or offered tepid acknowledgment of his nomination.
GLAAD, the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute, and the National LGBTQ Task Force said nothing about Bessent after his nomination, while the Human Rights Campaign issued a statement on the social media platform Threads but not on its website or on any other platform. The group was far from happy with Bessent’s selection.
“The LGBTQ+ community is counting on openly LGBTQ+ nominees like Scott Bessent to step up for the community,” it said. “It will be a tough road—as was proven [during] Donald Trump’s previous administration and in his Project 2025 Agenda.”
The groups all praised Buttigieg’s “historic” nomination in 2020 and the nomination of other LGBT officials.
The LGBTQ+ Victory Institute praised the “groundbreaking” appointments of Rachel Levine, the transgender health and human Services official, and Sam Brinton, the former Department of Energy official who was repeatedly arrested for stealing women’s clothing at airports.
The National LGBTQ Task Force said in a statement that it was “thrilled” Biden selected Levine.
Read the full article here
