NEW: Trump Cabinet Official Confirmed By U.S. Senate
The U.S. Senate voted to confirm President Trump’s nominee for treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, on Monday as Senate Republicans work to confirm the president’s cabinet nominee.
Bessent, 69, was confirmed in a 68 to 29 vote that came a little over a week after his January 16 confirmation hearing. A total of 16 Democrats voted to confirm, while no Senate Republicans objected to the nomination. An additional 10 senators, including one Republican, did not vote.
Bessent, 62, is the founder of the Connecticut-based hedge fund Key Square Group. A longtime ally of the president’s, Bessent is a staunch advocate of Trump’s tariff plan and also served as an economic adviser to Trump’s presidential campaign. Bessent is also a major proponent of the president-elect’s plan to scale back cryptocurrency regulations and has advocated for a number of Trump’s economic proposals, including lower taxes, spending restraint and deregulation.
The nominee for treasury secretary testified before the Senate Finance Committee earlier this month, which voted to to advance his nomination on a bipartisan basis last week. “Mr. Bessent has decades of academic, professional and leadership experience relevant to this position, as well as the gravitas, demeanor and character to be an effective secretary,” Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID), who chairs the committee, said ahead of the floor vote on Bessent’s confirmation. “There is no doubt that Mr. Bessent is an excellent choice for secretary of the treasury.”
Bessent (left) meets with Senator Tim Scott (R-SC)
In his opening statement earlier this month, Bessent told the committee that he came from humble beginnings in South Carolina, which forced him to start work at the age of nine. He went on to attend Yale University before working in the finance industry. “My life has been the only-in-America story that I am determined to preserve for future generations,” Bessent said.
Bessent further said during his confirmation hearing that he believes the president has a “generational opportunity to unleash a new economic golden age that will create more jobs, wealth and prosperity for all Americans.”
Among the policy goals outlined during the hearing, Bessent listed the reimplementation of President Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, some of which are slated to expire at the end of the year, as a top priority. Failure to do so would result in an “economic calamity,” he added.
With Bessent’s confirmation, he joins Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and CIA Director John Ratcliffe as Trump cabinet nominees who have been confirmed. Additional votes are expected this week, while Director of National Intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard, FBI Director nominee Kash Patel, and Health and Human Services nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are scheduled for confirmation hearings on Thursday.