Scott Bessent Sits In Silence As Don Beyer Goes Through List Of Trump's Economic Wrongdoings

I would just point that out, Mr. Byer.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, ranking member. Mr. Secretary, thank you for being here. I have no intention of trying to find something for social media. I share your concern. I'd love to see faster economic growth in America. 3% would be amazing. It would help us begin to unwind the huge deficit that we have right now. What I am much more concerned about is not all the individual statistics. You know, my college statistics textbook was lies, damn lies, and statistics. We can all pick out the ones that we like and the ones we don't like. I'm much more concerned on a more macro level that on at least five things like you, I've studied economic history a great deal, that the administration is moving in ways that seem contrary to everything that I've learned about economic growth. Number one, of course, is the tariffs. Tariffs have rarely been good, and we've seen study after study that show that 96% of the tariff revenue so far has been paid for by American consumers and American businesses. It also has not led to a reshoring of manufacturing. Second is workforce. We know the two drivers of economic growth are workforce participation and productivity improvements with technology. With immigration enforcement, no one here objects to deporting criminals. But we've imprisoned or deported hundreds of thousands of hardworking people paying American taxes with American families that have now, according to the businesses I talk to, the builders can't build, the farmers can't farm, our fast-food places are all those workers that are necessary gone. Number three, the war of choice. You know, it hasn't achieved complex regime change. It didn't bring democracy to Iran. They still have the missile capabilities which we are seeing every day, and they still have the nuclear stuff. I see a Trump administration scrambling to recreate the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action that he walked away from, that actually had nuclear weapons 20 years away in Iran, and we'll be lucky if we can get back to that again. Then there's the disinvestment in research. 20% cuts to almost all university research, National Science Foundation down 55%. The science departments that NOAA and EPA eliminated. Cuts to NIH and CDC. What we're seeing is young scientists in America fleeing to Germany, France, and England, places that want them. This is back to where does our growth come from. Then I think maybe the most damning thing: half of the growth last year, which by the way according to the Federal Reserve is 2.1%, not 2.6, is 1.6% according to the Federal Reserve in the first quarter of this year. Those are not anything like the 2.8% we had in 2024. But half of that GDP growth last year, of that 2.1%, came from data centers alone. There are 831 data centers right now under construction. I live in an area that has half, two-thirds, three-quarters of the data centers in America. I am a big AI optimist, but I promise you so many of the people that I talk to are hating the data centers because of the impact on water, sound, particulate matter, electricity costs, and ultimately the fears about what all that AI may do to their privacy and their concerns. So, I want you to be successful because I'm an American and I love my country and I want to have 3% growth. I just worry that so many of the decisions that you have made, the president made, are moving us in the wrong direction. With that, rather than getting into an argument, I know your responses. Let me move to something that I think has not been touched upon today: say in a courtroom, asked and answered.

Oh yeah, maybe the president announced that he appointed you, had plenty of chance today. They appointed a businessman and current head of the Federal Housing Financing Authority with zero background in intelligence gathering and national security to be the acting DNI. Of course, I speak for many of us. We think that Mr. PY is wildly unqualified for this job and also misused his limited authority as head of the Federal Housing Finance Association to manufacture bogus mortgage fraud cases against the president's enemies. But I know that you've had some interaction with him before. I think you said to the Finance Committee yesterday that you told him you were going to kick his rear end. But rather than going through an intensive search and vetting process, we look at you who had to go through all that, who had to be vetted, voted in by the US Senate. Doesn't it bother you as a Senate-confirmed, deeply vetted cabinet official that you're going to be asked to serve with a character like Bill PY?

I would point out that the Afghan withdrawal was done on Trump's timeline after it was negotiated at Camp David with Mike Pompeo.

All right, Mr. Moore.