On Monday, the Senate voted to confirm Scott Bessent as President Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Bessent now takes on the tasks of helping to develop the new administration’s tax policies; enacting tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China; and constructing the administration’s first budget.
Bessent, the founder of hedge fund Key Square Capital Management, was confirmed on a vote of 68-29, with 16 Democrats joining Republicans who voted in favor of making him the nation’s 79th Treasury secretary.
The Treasury secretary serves as the president’s fiscal policy adviser and manages the public debt. Bessent is expected to lead the push to extend — and possibly expand — the 2017 tax cuts, NPR reported.
During his confirmation hearing earlier this month, Bessent contended that federal budget issues are tied to spending, not revenues. Bessent also claimed that Trump’s economic plans would raise wages and lower consumer costs.
Bessent has also laid out an economic plan known as “3-3-3,” which would reduce the federal budget deficit to 3% of gross domestic product (GDP), get real GDP growth to 3% and produce an additional 3 million barrels of oil per day by 2028.
Bessent is the first openly gay Treasury secretary and the first LGBTQ Senate-confirmed cabinet member in a Republican administration, according to The Associated Press.
Bob Broeksmit, president and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), issued a statement on Bessent’s confirmation.
“MBA appreciates the swift confirmation process and bipartisan support that Scott Bessent received to be the next Treasury Secretary,” Broeksmit said. “We congratulate him on his confirmation, and our members stand ready to work with him and his staff on commonsense policies that grow the economy and strengthen our nation’s single-family and commercial and multifamily real estate markets.
“We recognize that the Treasury has several key issues to address early on, including the tax policy and reconciliation debate. MBA will work with Treasury and Congress to help pass legislation that extends key, expiring provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, particularly those that impact consumers and support continued investment in housing and communities.”
Broeksmit also mentioned that the MBA will look to partner with Treasury staff, Congress and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) in developing “a thoughtful plan to end the conservatorships of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.” The MBA is seeking to avoid market disruption or increased costs for borrowers and has emphasized that any return of the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) to the private sector “must include an explicit federal backstop of the GSEs’ mortgage-backed securities to protect both consumers and our housing finance system.”
