{"id":1050807,"date":"2025-01-16T15:41:33","date_gmt":"2025-01-16T20:41:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1050807"},"modified":"2025-01-16T15:41:33","modified_gmt":"2025-01-16T20:41:33","slug":"wall-street-billionaire-scott-bessent-lays-out-trumps-agenda-of-higher-costs-health-care-cuts-and-tax-handouts-to-the-ultra-wealthy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/wall-street-billionaire-scott-bessent-lays-out-trumps-agenda-of-higher-costs-health-care-cuts-and-tax-handouts-to-the-ultra-wealthy\/","title":{"rendered":"Wall Street Billionaire Scott Bessent Lays Out Trump\u2019s Agenda of Higher Costs, Health Care Cuts, and Tax Handouts to the Ultra-Wealthy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Today, Scott Bessent confirmed that Donald Trump\u2019s billionaire Cabinet is dead set on an agenda of tax handouts for the ultra-wealthy, higher costs and lower wages for American workers, and cuts to health care access that could be devastating for millions of Americans. Just like the rest of the billionaire flunkies Trump is packing into his Cabinet, Bessent would be a disaster for working families and would rig the economy for the ultra-wealthy on the backs of the middle class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bessent confirmed that giving the ultra-wealthy ANOTHER tax handout is \u201cthe single most important economic issue,\u201d and refused to commit to making the rich pay their fair share.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scott Bessent<\/a>: \u201cThis is the single most important economic issue of the day. <\/strong>This is pass\/fail. If we do not fix these tax cuts, if we do not renew and extend, then we will be facing an economic calamity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Ron Wyden<\/a>: \u201cDo you believe the tax code should treat wages differently than it treats wealth?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bessent: *struggles to answer coherently* \u2026 \u201cIt is a decision that was made when the tax codes were written so \u2026\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wyden: \u201cIt sounds to me like you do believe that it\u2019s fine to treat wealth more favorably. I couldn\u2019t disagree more. The idea that a dollar earned by a hedge fund manager has more value than a dollar earned by a teacher or a factory worker, I just think it\u2019s a disconnect with the American people.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Raphael Warnock<\/a>: \u201cWhat about [those making more than] $1 billion?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bessent: \u201cSo again, that I think that these are the job creators.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Warnock: \u201cSo there\u2019s no income level for which you would support raising taxes? <\/strong>Is that fair?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bessent: \u201cThere is no income level <\/strong>\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bessent won\u2019t commit to advising Trump against his reckless policies that would raise costs, admitting he won\u2019t fight to lower prices for the American people. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Maggie Hassan<\/a>: \u201cIf the president-elect were to propose a policy that you believe will increase prices, would you advise against it?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bessent: \u201cI would \u2026 speak to President Trump about it. It is his decision.<\/strong> \u2026\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Hassan: \u201cIf you believe that a policy that is proposed by President Trump would increase prices, would you advise him against doing it? Yes or no?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bessent: \u201cI can\u2019t answer that question because it\u2019s a hypothetical.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bessent confirmed he does not support raising the federal minimum wage \u2013 which has not been raised since 2009. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Bernie Sanders<\/a>: \u201cWill you work with those of us who want to raise the federal minimum wage to a living wage to take millions of Americans out of poverty?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scott Bessent: \u201cI believe that the minimum wage is more of a statewide and regional issue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen: Sanders: \u201cSo you don\u2019t think we should change the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scott Bessent: \u201cNo, sir.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bessent won\u2019t stand in the way of Trump gutting Medicaid.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen Ben Ray Luj\u00e1n<\/a>: \u201cYes or no, will you recommend cutting Medicaid?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bessent: \u201cUh\u2026 I\u2026 It\u2019s the business of Congress to do the budget and I am in favor of empowering states and I believe that for some states that will be an increase, for some states that will be a decrease.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Luj\u00e1n: \u201cWill you recommend cutting Medicaid to President Trump?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bessent \u201cUh, I will get back to you on this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bessent refused to commit to protecting the Affordable Care Act tax credits, threatening to raise health care costs on hardworking Americans.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Peter Welch<\/a>: \u201cWith the tax credits that are set to expire, that family would have a $700 a month increase in their health care bill. That\u2019s going to hammer them, that\u2019s like $9,000. So my question to you is in putting together this tax proposal where you are going to have to be making recommendations about how to pay for it, will we continue to provide this help to Vermonters like this electrician in Brattleboro so that he doesn\u2019t get hammered on health care premiums going well beyond what he can afford?<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bessent: \u201cSenator, as we discussed in your office, and I haven\u2019t had time to do my homework on this<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, Scott Bessent confirmed that Donald Trump\u2019s billionaire Cabinet is dead set on an agenda of tax handouts for the ultra-wealthy, higher costs and lower wages for American workers, and cuts to health care access that could be devastating for millions of Americans. Just like the rest of the billionaire flunkies Trump is packing into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":293,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1050807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWall Street Billionaire Scott Bessent Lays Out Trump\u2019s Agenda of Higher Costs, Health Care Cuts, and Tax Handouts to the Ultra-Wealthy - Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/wall-street-billionaire-scott-bessent-lays-out-trumps-agenda-of-higher-costs-health-care-cuts-and-tax-handouts-to-the-ultra-wealthy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-16T20:41:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?w=1024\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Shelby Reese\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Shelby Reese\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/wall-street-billionaire-scott-bessent-lays-out-trumps-agenda-of-higher-costs-health-care-cuts-and-tax-handouts-to-the-ultra-wealthy\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/wall-street-billionaire-scott-bessent-lays-out-trumps-agenda-of-higher-costs-health-care-cuts-and-tax-handouts-to-the-ultra-wealthy\/\",\"name\":\"Wall Street Billionaire Scott Bessent Lays Out Trump\u2019s Agenda of Higher Costs, Health Care Cuts, and Tax Handouts to the Ultra-Wealthy - 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