Bessent signals he’s uninterested in succeeding Fed Chair Powell

00:00 Julie Hyman

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessin on Capitol Hill today, testifying before lawmakers. Our Jennifer Schonberger has more on that. Hi, Jen.

00:11 Jennifer Schonberger

Hey, Julie. In a hearing before the House Ways and Means Committee verging on nearly five hours, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessin defended the administration’s tax and trade policies, saying that the deal struck with China last night was for a specific goal, but the overall negotiations are going to be a longer process. He said that China is an unreliable partner and warned Beijing to hold up their side of the bargain. When asked what we should expect at the end of that 90-day pause, which will be up on July 9th, he said that trading partners that have been negotiating in good faith could see that deadline rolled forward to allow for more time for talks, whereas those who have not will not. Meanwhile, the secretary defended the tax bill, saying failure to pass that big beautiful bill would result in the biggest tax hike in history and job losses, while Democrats pushed Bessin, warning that the bill could lead to an increase in the deficit. House Ways and Means ranking member Richard Neal says the administration has its head stuck in the sand, while representative Boyle rattled off Elon Musk’s criticisms of the bill in which he had called it an abomination. Listen.

02:22 Speaker A

Why do you believe Mr. Musk is right or wrong?

02:52 Steven Mnuchin

You’d have to ask Mr. Musk.

03:01 Speaker A

I will take the substance of what he said. Does it not add trillions of dollars, your bill to the deficit and debt?

03:14 Steven Mnuchin

Uh it’s not my belief that it does. It may be his. He can speak for himself.

03:49 Jennifer Schonberger

Meanwhile, asked by representative Kustoff whether he would rather be Fed chair or remain Treasury Secretary, he had this to say.

04:06 Steven Mnuchin

I have uh with the uh other than some congressional reporting, the best job in Washington, and I would like to stay uh in my safe through 2029.

05:21 Jennifer Schonberger

Bessin also defended an arcane section of the House tax bill known as section 899, which would tax foreign holders of US assets by 5% every year all the way up to 20%, saying that if a European company tried to unfairly tax a US company, that would actually fall back on the multinational European company. He said, this is a fiscal bill, not a revenge bill. And after all of that testimony today, Secretary Bessin still has more. He will head over to the Senate side of the capital where he will testify at 4:00.