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
D
David Schweikert0:01
Mr. Schweikert.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And just, Mr. Secretary, you were already heading there. As everyone here, I'm sure, knows, PCE, there's actually trimmed, which Kevin, new head of the Fed, prefers. There's actually four or five ways you do balancing on the calculations. So, if any of you want to join Economic actually, we have a whole chart of how those calculations work. We're not...
S
Scott Bessent0:30
Those are real facts, and they're inconvenient. And food prices, food at home, has risen 2.5% since President Trump came into office. It averaged more than 5% under the Biden-Warren economy. And I've got a list here that President Trump posted, but no one wants to talk about it. Last year, all we heard was eggs, eggs, eggs. Eggs are down 90%. Avocados are down 19%.
D
David Schweikert0:58
Mr. Secretary, you will find probably avocados probably more popular on the other side of the aisle.
Yeah, Mr. Secretary, you'll find we often choose whatever number works best for the social media posting we're going to do in an hour. So, welcome to Congress. A conversation we've been having actually with some of your staff and some of the Ways and Means staff is something that often never comes up, but we're going to have to understand it and find a better way to document it. We calculated about 17% of the US economy now is in the tax-exempt space. And within that space, those who receive the benefit of tax exemption, the basic concept is here's the community good you're doing for not having to pay taxes. There's something you're an expert on, the 990 form that documents to the IRS, to Treasury, to Congress what is that community benefit. I know your team has been working on this. I know some of the IRS team we've been working on it. Is there a way to come up with a much more robust universal form so we can understand are these tax-exempt organizations meeting their societal obligation and if they're not, we can help them meet that, but we don't have enough information today.
S
Scott Bessent2:24
It's a great question, Congressman, and you know, there are many tax-exempt organizations. A large part of the economy are hospitals and health care services. So we should look whether they are meeting the needs and are in fact non-profit. But your question in terms of what is going on with these nonprofits, the IRS has issued guidance for Form 990 that nonprofits, just as banks must KYC, know your customer. We are telling the directors of these foundations, of these institutions, you must know your grantee. So KYG. If your grantee is, if the money is being used for violent activities, you as a trustee, as a fiduciary, are in trouble. If it is being used to take away people's civil rights, you're in trouble and the nonprofit status is in jeopardy.
D
David Schweikert3:26
My team looks forward to continuing to work with Treasury on making that more robust so we actually understand both those that are using nonprofit tax-exempt as funnels to bad acts but also are they meeting their community obligations. One that you're probably not going to get as a question from anyone else. We have a fixation of debt management. You know, we're responsible as policy makers, we're responsible for the debt, not the administration. We do make the policy. What can we do as members of Congress, Joint Economic Committee, Ways and Means Committee, to help you convince the markets, you know, please buy a 10-year note. Please, we have some vision, the visibility to see where we're going. I do have some concerns of in the future where the entire world is binging on debt that we have some stressed auctions. What do we do as a country to actually not have that happen to us?
S
Scott Bessent4:36
Since President Trump came into office, the US Treasury market has been the best performing developed market, but that is not assured. It is assured that the Treasury will have a regular and predictable issuance cadence. But what we must let our borrowers know, people who are buying Treasury bonds, whether it is US households, the foreign central banks, and everyone else in between, is that we are serious about getting our debt and deficit numbers under control.
D
David Schweikert5:14
That is perfect, Mr. Secretary, and with that I yield back, Mr. Chairman.
