Name: Bessent Defends Tariffs, Makes Case for Extending Trump Tax Cuts
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The U.S. Senate continues its slate of high-stakes hearings to consider President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominations days before his inauguration.

Billionaire financier Scott Bessent, whom Trump tapped to head the Treasury Department, headlines the Jan. 16 schedule and appear before the Senate Finance Committee.

Former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, whose confirmation hearing for secretary of the Department of Interior was delayed over paperwork issues, sits in front of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

Trump’s picks for EPA chief, Lee Zeldin, and HUD secretary, Scott Turner, also face Senate panels.

Follow here for the latest updates:
<h2>Burgum Promises Bipartisanship on Alternative Energy</h2>
Interior nominee Doug Burgum told Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) that he would work with Democrats on alternative energy solutions.

“You can count on that, that I will,” Burgum said.

The question followed a prior exchange with Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), during which Burgum appeared lukewarm on the benefits of wind power—an energy source President-elect Donald Trump has frequently criticized as ineffective and harmful to wildlife.

North Dakota sources more than one-third of its power from wind turbines. But Burgum emphasized that wind is an intermittent power source that must be “balanced” with persistent sources to support the energy grid.

Still, the former North Dakota governor said the principles of the clean energy plans he and Wyden had previously discussed were “really sound” and pledged to work with him and other Democrats to find innovative solutions.

Burgum stressed, however, that he would prioritize national security in the process.

“We shouldn’t have incentives that enslave us to getting all of our critical minerals from a major power competitor, like China,” he said.

Cost-effectiveness, he added, would be another determining factor in securing his support for future alternative energy projects.

“If we can do something for $60 a ton versus $900 a ton, I’m going to choose the $60 a ton of avoided CO2.”

Wyden was receptive to that response.
<h2>Bessent: 'No Reason' for Central Bank Digital Currency in US</h2>
Billionaire hedge fund manager Scott Bessent expressed opposition to a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the United States.

"I see no reason for the U.S. to have a central bank digital currency," Treasury secretary nominee Bessent told the Senate Finance Committee during his confirmation hearing.

The purpose of a CBDC, said Bessent, is for nations that do not have any other investment alternatives.

"I view that many of these countries are doing it out of necessity," he said. "Whereas the U.S., if you hold U.S. dollars, you can hold a variety of securities."

President-elect Donald Trump, speaking at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville this past summer, promised that the United States would never have a CBDC while he is president.

"It’s over. Forget it," Trump said at the time.

Trump stated at a campaign stop in New Hampshire last year that a centralized digital dollar is "a dangerous threat to freedom."
<h2>Bessent Says He Will Push China to Honor Previous Trade Commitments</h2>
In his confirmation testimony, Scott Bessent called for enforcing purchase provisions included in the U.S.–China “phase one” trade agreement signed in January 2020.

Bessent, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to serve as Treasury secretary told the Senate Committee on Finance on Jan. 16 that if he is confirmed, he will "begin pushing for the purchase guarantees that were in the [phase one agreement] to be enforced." Additionally, he said he may ask for a "catch-up provision."

In that agreement, according to a January 2020 fact sheet published by the U.S. Trade Representative's Office, China committed to importing a certain amount of U.S. goods and services in 2021 and 2022.

According to an analysis published by the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) in July 2022, by the end of 2021, China had fallen behind by at least $200 billion in what it was committed to purchase from the United States.

"In the end, China purchased only 58 percent of the total U.S. goods and services exports over 2020-21 that it had committed to buy under the agreement," Chad Bown, then a Reginald Jones senior fellow at the PIIE and currently the chief economist for the U.S. Department of State, wrote in the PIIE report. "Put differently, China bought none of the additional $200 billion of U.S. exports committed under the deal."
<h2>Burgum Vows to Ramp Up Support for Future Disaster Responses</h2>
Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) asked interior nominee Doug Burgum if he would respond to future disasters, like the wildfires currently ravaging California, “with as much support and resources possible,” regardless of where they occur.

“Absolutely,” Burgum said, adding that he would even “go a step further.”

“When the dollars come up, this could be the most expensive wildfire, urban wildfire, in the history of the country,” Burgum noted. “It’s probably a time for all of us, together, to say, ‘What could we be doing differently?’”

Extending his sympathies to the California senator, Burgum said that his wife and daughter were in the Los Angeles area when the wildfires ignited last week and were forced to evacuate along with the local residents.

The former North Dakota governor also noted that his home state has faced its share of wildfires.

“Wildfire, whether it’s in North Dakota, California, you need three things,” Burgum said. “You need oxygen, you need fuel load, and you need a spark. And in both cases … when you have high winds, those sparks can come from above-ground power lines coming in contact with vegetation. And so we have to think about the grid.”

Padilla said he appreciated Burgum’s knowledge and experience on the subject.
<h2>Bessent Says China’s Top Priority Is Growing Its Military</h2>
In his confirmation testimony before the Senate Committee on Finance on Jan. 16, prospective Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described the Chinese economy as the "most unbalanced economy in the history of the world."

When Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) asked about Treasury investment transparency requirements, Bessent said the United States must be aware that Beijing prioritizes military spending ahead of anything else.

"They are using their surpluses to fund their military machine in China," Bessent said.

Bessent said the United States must have a "very rigorous screening process" whenever it trades anything the Chinese regime could use for a military purpose. That includes screening technology, computer chips, and components necessary for advancing artificial intelligence and quantum computing.
<h2>Burgum Pushes Back on Claims Fossil Fuels Threaten National Defense</h2>
Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) challenged interior nominee Doug Burgum’s call for energy dominance, citing former defense secretaries’ claims that burning more fossil fuels could exacerbate wars.

Hirono pointed to comments from retired Gen. James Mattis, who served as defense secretary under President-elect Donald Trump’s first term, and retired Sgt. Chuck Hagel, who led the Pentagon under the Obama administration.

“These are two secretaries of defense. They know something about war,” Hirono said, asking Burgum if he was aware of their claims.

“No, I’m not aware of that specific testimony,” Burgum replied. “But I do know that within fossil fuels, the concern has been about emissions. And within emissions, we have the technology to do things like carbon capture to eliminate harmful emissions.”

Hirono called Burgum's position “troubling.”
<h2>Bessent Defends Trump Tariff Plans</h2>
Scott Bessent, a seasoned hedge fund investor and nominee to serve as the next Treasury secretary, defended President-elect Donald Trump's tariff plans.

In an exchange with Sen. Ron Wyden (R-Ore.), the Senate Finance Committee ranking member, Bessent shrugged off the senator's idea that tariffs are a consumption tax increase that will harm workers and small businesses.

"I would respectfully disagree," Bessent said. "The history of tariffs and tariff theory—optimal tariff theory—does not support what you're saying."

According to Bessent, trade levies can bolster the U.S. dollar and facilitate changes in consumer preferences. Additionally, foreign manufacturers will try to cut prices to maintain market share.
<h2>Not Extending Trump Tax Cuts Will Cause 'Economic Calamity,' Says Bessent</h2>
Billionaire financier Scott Bessent, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for Treasury secretary, says not extending the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) will cause an "economic calamity."

At his confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee Thursday, Bessent told lawmakers that renewing or extending the Trump-era tax cuts is the "single most important economic issue" today.

"As always, with financial instability that falls on the middle- and working-class people, we will see a gigantic middle-class tax increase," Bessent said.

By not keeping the TCJA intact, the Child Tax Credit and small business deductions will be halved, Bessent added.
<h2>Bessent Says US Must Get Fiscal House In Order</h2>
Scott Bessent, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to serve as the next Treasury secretary, said he believes the incoming administration can create more jobs, wealth, and prosperity.

In his opening statement at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Finance on Jan. 16, Bessent, the founder of investment fund Key Square Group, said his career experience has granted him a deep understanding of the global economy and its markets.

Echoing Trump's views on the economy, Bessent said the Treasury Department, under his leadership, would see itself as a plank of the U.S. national security platform. Bessent said the department must work to "secure supply chains that are vulnerable to strategic competitors" and "carefully deploy sanctions."

He also said the Treasury needs to work to maintain the U.S. dollar as the world's reserve currency.

With an eye toward domestic issues, Bessent said the federal government must take steps to "get our fiscal house in order" to avoid further inflation.

"As we rebuild our economy and lay the foundation for the next generation of American competitiveness, we must use all the tools available to realign the economic system to better serve the interest of working Americans," Bessent said.
<h2>Zeldin: 'Climate Change Is Real'</h2>
In response to a question from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Environmental Protection Agency nominee former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) said climate change is real.

“I believe that climate change is real, as I told you, as far as President Trump goes, the context that I have heard him speak about it was with a criticism of policies that had been enacted because of climate change,” he said.

“And I think he's concerned about the economic costs of some policies where there's a debate and a difference of opinion,” he continued.

Sanders responded: "I respectfully disagree with you. I think he has called it a hoax time and time and time again.”
<h2>Turner Says HUD Needs to Maximize Its Budget, Not Increase Funding</h2>
During questioning from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Scott Turner said the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) needs to maximize its current budget instead of pursuing additional funding.

In fiscal year 2025, HUD’s budget reached $72.6 billion, an all-time high.

When Warren asked Turner, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the agency, if he would pursue additional federal investment for programs to lower the cost of building affordable housing, he said HUD needs to better utilize its existing budget.

We have to be “sure that the programs that we do have are meeting the intended need and serving those that are intended to serve,” Turner said.

Warren said Turner’s response gave her “real pause,” as she feels additional funding is needed to close the “terrible gap of affordable housing,” including for projects such as the HOME Investment Partnerships Program.

That program allocates formula grants to both states and localities to fund building, buying, and rehabilitating affordable housing for “rent or homeownership or providing direct rental assistance to low-income people.”

Turner said he would consider the HOME program at HUD, but that the agency’s massive budget is not “meeting the need that [it] was supposed to be meeting,” and that may mean improving housing inventory.
<h2>Zeldin: Carbon Dioxide Not a Pollutant</h2>
In response to a question from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) nominee former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) said carbon dioxide is not a pollutant.

“I would say no,” Zeldin said. “As far as carbon dioxide that is emitted in larger masses that we hear concern about from scientists as well as from Congress, that's something that certainly needs to be focused on for the EPA.”

He noted that the EPA treats carbon dioxide as a pollutant due to a Supreme Court decision.

He said carbon dioxide "certainly needs to be focused on" and noted that it is "not named" in the Clean Air Act as a pollutant, but the EPA has treated it as such.
<h2>Zeldin Calls for Protecting Environment While Also Protecting Economy</h2>
In his opening statement before the Senate Environment Committee, former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.), nominee for the Environmental Protection Agency, made a bipartisan appeal to work on the environment as well as the economy.

"We must do everything in our power to harness the greatness of American innovation with the greatness of American conservation and environmental stewardship, we must ensure we are protecting the environment while also protecting our economy,” he said.
<h2>Turner: America’s Record-Breaking Homelessness Is ‘National Embarrassment’</h2>
President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), former NFL player Scott Turner, cited HUD’s data showing the United States hit an all-time high level of homelessness last year.

The agency tallied more than 770,000 people living in homelessness on a single night in January 2024, which was an 18 percent increase from the year prior, and is likely an undercount.

“That’s a national embarrassment and something that cannot continue,” Turner said. “We have a housing crisis in our country, where American people and families are struggling every day.

“HUD is failing at its most basic mission.”

Turner said his years of childhood adversity illustrated these issues firsthand.

“I know my upbringing and background are not completely unique. There are many in this country—some sitting in this room today—who at one point or another had to overcome adversity of all kinds,” he said.

“These are experiences that members of my family and I have seen and lived. And that perspective is something I can bring to the table,” he added.

Turner said he would call for HUD’s remote employees to return to the office, build more housing “of all kinds,” and to continue and expand policies from Trump’s first administration, including Opportunity Zones.

These zones are economically distressed communities that state governors can nominate for certification by the Treasury Secretary and may receive preferential tax treatment for new investments.

Turner worked with Opportunity Zones while serving as executive director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council in the first Trump administration.
<h2>What to Know About Lee Zeldin, EPA Nominee</h2>
Former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) has been nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to be the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

His nomination hearing before the Senate Environment Committee is underway.

Here’s what to know about Zeldin:
<ul>
 	<li>Represented New York’s 1st Congressional District between 2015 and 2023.</li>
 	<li>Served on the House Foreign Affairs and Financial Services committees.</li>
 	<li>Served in the U.S. Army from 2003 to 2007 as an intelligence officer and military attorney for the Judge Advocate General Corps.</li>
 	<li>Has not directly worked in the environmental sector.</li>
 	<li>Ran for New York governor in 2022 and lost by about 6 percentage points in the deep blue state.</li>
</ul>
<h2>What to Know About Doug Burgum, Interior Nominee</h2>
Former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum is President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of the Interior.

Burgum’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee kicks off at 10 a.m. on Thursday.

Here’s what to know about Burgum:
<ul>
 	<li>Burgum served as the 33rd governor of North Dakota from 2016 to Dec. 15, 2024.</li>
 	<li>He was believed to be on Trump’s shortlist for vice president.</li>
 	<li>Burgum ran against Trump in the 2024 Republican presidential primary before dropping out and endorsing the 45th president.</li>
 	<li>He served as the president of Great Plains Software from 1984 to 2001, when he sold the company for $1.1 billion to Microsoft.</li>
 	<li>Burgum is a big supporter of drilling—a stance that likely contributed to Trump’s decision to tap him to lead a new National Energy Council on top of his proposed role as interior secretary.</li>
 	<li>The new council will include all government entities related to the permitting, production, generation, distribution, regulation, and transportation of energy.</li>
 	<li>Burgum would also have a seat on the White House National Security Council as chair of the National Energy Council.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Bessent to Focus on Security, Spending, Dollar Dominance in Opening Remarks</h2>
President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, will emphasize in his opening remarks the need for the United States to address national security concerns; that the government “must ensure that the U.S. dollar remains the world’s reserve currency”; and that Trump has the opportunity to unleash “a new economic golden age.”

He is set to face questions from the Senate Finance Committee regarding his stance on several matters, including tariffs and trade.

Bessent’s opening remarks, according to The Associated Press, will emphasize the need to secure vulnerable supply chains, levy sanctions, and reprioritize federal spending.

“Productive investment that grows the economy must be prioritized over wasteful spending that drives inflation,” Bessent states in his testimony.

He has also backed extending Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

Trump said in his nomination announcement that Bessent “will support my policies that will drive U.S. competitiveness, and stop unfair trade imbalances, work to create an economy that places growth at the forefront, especially through our coming world energy dominance,” according to a Nov. 22 statement.

Bessent is also expected to face questions concerning potential conflicts of interests and agency independence.
<h2>Today’s Confirmation Hearing Schedule</h2>
<strong>10 a.m.: Doug Burgum, Interior Department </strong>

The former governor of North Dakota and businessman appears before members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, who will consider his nomination as interior secretary, the chief steward of U.S. public lands. Burgum, who endorsed Trump after ending his own 2024 presidential bid and campaigned for Trump, has also been tapped to lead the National Energy Council. Trump has said the council will seek to establish U.S. “energy dominance” around the world.

<strong>10 a.m.: Scott Turner, Housing and Urban Development Department </strong>

The former NFL player who ran the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council in Trump’s first term appears at a hearing before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. Turner is a professional mentor, pastor and former Texas House member. HUD is charged with addressing the nation’s housing needs and fair housing laws, and oversees housing for the poorest Americans.

<strong>10 a.m.: Lee Zeldin, Environmental Protection Agency </strong>

The former New York congressman appears before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. The agency is tasked with matters pertaining to environmental protection, conducting assessments, research, education and maintaining and enforcing national standards.

<strong>10:15 a.m.: Pam Bondi, Day 2 before the Senate Judiciary Committee.</strong>

<strong>10:30 a.m.: Scott Bessent, Treasury Department</strong>

The billionaire money manager from South Carolina takes questions from members of the Senate Finance Committee. Bessent would be the first openly LGBTQ+ Senate-confirmed Cabinet member in a Republican administration. The treasury chief helps formulate financial, economic, and tax policy, and manage the public debt.

<em>Epoch times reporters Andrew Moran, Austin Alonzo, Jacob Burg, Jackson Richman, T.J. Muscaro and Samantha Flom and The Associated Press contributed to this report.</em>

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Luis Eduardo Martinez is a correspondent for NTD News based in Washington. He holds a master’s degree in International Relations and Democratic Politics from the University of Westminster in London, England.

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