About Scott Bessent
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has promoted the Trump administration’s economic record, citing strong job growth and tax policies. In a June 2026 interview, he said the U.S. created 900,000 private-sector jobs since President Trump took office and described the past three months of job creation as “a blowout,” with 170,000 to 180,000 jobs per month. He attributed a manufacturing “rebirth” to tariffs and tax policy, and said core inflation had surprised on the downside at 2%. Bessent also expressed confidence that energy prices would decline once the conflict with Iran is resolved, stating that oil was already 25 to 30 percent off its peak.
Bessent joined First Lady Melania Trump in June 2026 to announce “Fostering the Future” accounts, a savings and investment vehicle for foster youth. He described the accounts as part of the broader “Trump accounts” program, which provides a $1,000 seed contribution from the Treasury for every child born between January 2025 and December 2028. Bessent said that, assuming historical growth rates, the deposit could grow to at least $500,000 by retirement. He stated that the program aims to give foster children the same opportunity for asset ownership and long-term wealth building as other children, and that it would help ensure their futures are shaped by possibilities rather than circumstances. During a House Ways and Means Committee hearing, Bessent defended the administration’s tax cuts, including provisions eliminating taxes on tips, overtime, and Social Security benefits, and said 62 million Americans claimed at least one of those provisions. He also faced questions from Democratic lawmakers about the economic impact of tariffs, the IRS settlement with President Trump, and the administration’s budget deficit projections.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Scott Bessent's recent appearances.
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✨ AI-enhanced transcript with speaker attribution
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Laura0:00
Mr. Secretary, it's great to see you tonight. So, you look at the investment in the United States. You look at our energy exploration, the GDP, the job growth, one of the biggest IPOs in history, but the left it seems to be invested in one thing: doom and gloom.
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Scott Bessent0:22
Completely, Laura. You know, I'm here in Texas, which is just booming. It's a role model for the rest of America. And I was at the Reagan Library in California, which is a role model in how to tank one of the greatest places in the United States. So, Texas now has more Fortune 500 companies. It's part of the energy dominance. As you said, the US now is an energy superpower. We've surpassed Saudi Arabia and Russia. Down here in Texas, Wall Street — a lot of people didn't like what was going on in New York. Capital comes where it's treated well, and they've got Yall Street, and businesses are booming here. I mean, these are really Americans.
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Laura1:09
Well, California is just bleeding Fortune 500 companies, executives, job creators. They're going to states that are more hospitable. At the same time, Mr. Secretary, inflation and the cost of living is weighing on Americans. What can you tell the American people tonight about the light that is there at the end of the tunnel for them on the cost of everyday living?
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Scott Bessent1:36
Yeah. So Laura, we understand this is a challenging time, and the president and the cabinet was with him. We believe that he had to take this opportunity to keep Iran from having a nuclear weapon. We will see maybe as soon as this weekend or Monday we will get on the other side of this. Energy prices will come back down. The energy markets are very well supplied. Oil is already about 25 or 30% off the top. Gasoline has come down more than 10%. So I am very confident that the challenging time with gasoline will pass by. Core inflation, which is real underlying inflation, surprised on the downside — it was only 2%. So again, once we get on the other side of this energy pinch, and as you said Laura, the important thing is that underneath all that, the economy is doing very well. We created 900,000 private sector jobs since President Trump came to office. Those aren't government jobs. These are good paying private sector jobs. We're having a manufacturing rebirth because of the combination of the tariffs and our tax policy. And you know, this was an incredible — I was acting IRS commissioner — this was an incredible filing season. Refunds were up 11%. The average refund was $3,300. And the working families tax cut — 96% of the filers for one of the president's four signature policies: no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, lower taxes for seniors on Social Security, and deductibility of interest on American-made cars. 44% of Americans took one of those. So my message is the underlying fundamentals are excellent, and we will be on the other side of this soon.
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Laura3:38
So the cost of energy driven largely by the war with Iran, the conflict as it's emerged. Once that is resolved, how quickly do you think that will trickle down to the cost of groceries, car repairs, all the things that have remained stubbornly high over these last especially few months?
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Scott Bessent3:58
Well, what we've seen is because of the headline inflation, we had real wage increases every month under President Trump except for April. But because of the spike in energy prices, April wiped out a lot of that. So when the energy comes back down, then I think we will be back to real wage growth. And the food actually since President Trump came back in — what's called food at home — is up 2.5%. And you know, much of that is transportation costs. There's some very idiosyncratic things like beef and tomatoes. But other things in the basket are down. And the important thing is that we are creating jobs. The past three months in terms of jobs have just been a blowout. 170, 180,000 jobs a month, well over the estimates. And someone said to me after the jobs number came out, because there's a big pickup in catering, hospitality, restaurant services, they said, 'Well, that's the World Cup.' And I said, 'Great. It's the World Cup. Thank you, President Trump, for bringing the World Cup here.' I had the CEO of American Airlines in, and he said that business and recreational travel is doing great, and they're seeing a huge boost from the World Cup. So, thank you President Trump for the World Cup. We're going to have the 250th and then we'll go to the Olympics.
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Laura5:33
Yeah. I think once this conflict is settled,
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Scott Bessent5:36
I mean, the sky's the limit. I was talking with Elon today and SpaceX. To me, you get this thing settled the right way, the sky's the limit for the US economy. Everybody wants to be here. Mr. Secretary, we really appreciate you joining us on a Friday night. Be sure to like and subscribe for all the Fox News latest on YouTube, and catch full shows streaming now on Fox.
