What to expect from the Senate hearings
- Four of President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet picks testified before Senate committees at their confirmation hearings today.
- Senate Finance Committee members pressed Scott Bessent, a hedge fund executive whom Trump selected for treasury secretary, on inflation, tax cuts and wages. Bessent, who was also a top fundraiser for Trump's campaign, also defended the president-elect's threats to impose massive tariffs on China and other countries.
- The Senate Judiciary Committee also heard from character witnesses testifying on behalf of Pam Bondi, Trump's attorney general pick. Bondi herself testified yesterday and did not attend today's hearing. The committee's top Democrat, Sen. Dick Durbin, of Illinois, began today's hearing by saying that he was "disappointed" to hear her echoing some of Trump's false claims about the 2020 election.
- Other appearances today include former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, whom Trump picked to lead the Interior Department; former Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., Trump's pick to be the Environmental Protection Agency administrator; and former NFL player Eric Scott Turner, who is vying to be secretary of housing and urban development.
Bessent hearing concludes
Bessent has finished his testimony before the Senate Banking Committee and the hearing has now wrapped after about 3½ hours of questioning.
Bessent says he would work with Trump on the potential for eliminating the debt ceiling
During an exchange with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Bessent wouldn't commit to eliminating the debt ceiling but said he would work with Trump on that idea if he's confirmed as treasury secretary.
Warren said she supports, as Trump himself has previously, getting rid of the debt limit.
In December, Trump had expressed that Congress should get rid of the debt ceiling, saying during a negotiation over government spending that that could be part of the process.
“The Democrats have said they want to get rid of it. If they want to get rid of it, I would lead the charge,” Trump told NBC News at the time.
Democrats have advocated for eliminating it, arguing that it gambles with the nation's economy and is often taken advantage of for other policy reasons.
Democrats open to Bessent but alarmed by Bondi's statements on 2020
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., expressed openness to confirming Bessent, saying he was impressed specifically by his call for heavier sanctions on Russia. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., told NBC News that he thinks Bessent is the right person for the job and expects his colleagues across the aisle to support Trump’s Treasury pick, as well.
Durbin, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, acknowledged that while he believes Bondi is qualified for the job, he finds her statements on the 2020 election to be alarming.
“I’ve reflected on her testimony over and over again, and some of the things about her are truly outstanding and impressive,” Durbin said. “She is quite an attorney. Ten years as attorney general in Florida, I wouldn’t hesitate to hire her to represent a client on my own.”
Durbin continued: “Having said that, her answers to some of the questions appear to have a blind spot when it comes to some fundamental issues — who won the election in 2020?”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said he doesn't think he could support Bondi's confirmation at this point because "the attorney general has to have the grit and gumption to say no to Donald Trump, and Pam Bondi has yet to convince me that she has those qualities to stand up to Donald Trump."
"I see no way that I can responsibly vote for a nominee for attorney general who lacks the ability to say no to Donald Trump when he asked her to do something that’s illegal or immoral," he said. "It’s not a question of whether or if, Donald Trump will ask the attorney general to do something illegal or immoral. It’s when."
Bondi fielded questions on Trump during a confirmation hearing that began yesterday, including over whether she accepted that Trump had lost the 2020 election. Bondi responded that she “accept[ed] the results” and "of course, that Joe Biden is president of the United States" but also repeated Trump's false claim that widespread election fraud occurred in 2020.
Burgum's confirmation hearing is over
The Senate panel has adjourned Burgum's confirmation hearing. Topics ranged from allocation of the Colorado River water to the three lower basin states in the West to conditions for federal relief for disasters like the Los Angeles wildfires.
Burgum praised Trump's energy policies and made it clear he aligns with the president-elect on key topics such as drilling for oil and sourcing other natural resources on protected lands tribal lands. Burgum argued domestically sourcing energy would create a greater return for Americans than relying on foreign entities to do so.
Several Democratic senators pressed Burgum on climate change. Burgum argued the U.S. has tools sophisticated enough to mitigate the impact burning fossil fuels has on the climate, naming carbon capture as one of them.
The Senate panel went through two rounds of questioning before adjourning just before 1:20 p.m. ET.
Warnock spars with Bessent over Trump tax cuts
During his line of questioning, Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., asked Bessent about Trump's 2017 tax cuts legislation, much of which is set to expire this year.
Warnock asserted that the law would give the wealthiest 1% of Americans a tax cut, to which Bessent responded that "most of the benefits [of the law] accrued for the working and middle people."
Warnock asked for clarification, saying, "So, you believe that the tax cut that provided more of the benefits of the law to the top 1% and top 5% ... actually benefited those at the bottom more than it did those at the top?"
Bessent defended his original answer, saying that "the households in the bottom 50% of income earners, the wealth increase for those households was three times higher, three times higher than the wealth increase for the top 10% of Americans."
A report published by the Treasury Department last week found that, if the provisions are extended, "the largest tax cuts would go to the highest-income families."
Bessent says that this is his third try at public service
Bessent said that being nominated to be treasury secretary is particularly meaningful because it's his "third try at public service."
"In 1979 when I was 17 years old, I wanted to fight for my country. My father had just experienced financial difficulties. I wanted to attend the U.S. Naval Academy. I was offered by our congressman in the 6th District of South Carolina an appointment, but was unable to take that appointment because of my sexual preference," Bessent said.
If confirmed by the Senate, he would be the first openly gay treasury secretary.
Bessent said that when he was a student at Yale, he wanted to join the Foreign Service, and he said, "I was told, also, not welcome."
"I sit here knowing that President Trump chose me because he believes I’m the best candidate, not because of my sexual preference, not because treasury secretaries with green eyes do better," Bessent said. "I think it is a tribute to President Trump that he looks at people as people."
Top Judiciary Democrat requests agency records for Trump's FBI pick
Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Dick Durbin, D-Ill., has requested information from the Pentagon, Office of the Director of National Intelligence and Justice Department related to Kash Patel ahead of his confirmation hearing to be FBI director. That hearing has yet to be scheduled.
The letters to the three agencies are related to alleged misconduct by Patel during his tenure with those agencies, Durbin’s office said. The letter to DOJ further requests any records related to any other misconduct allegations from Patel’s time in government.
“The director must be able to execute the FBI’s mission in a nonpartisan, impartial manner that is above reproach,” Durbin wrote in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, adding that “the Committee is unable to properly consider his nomination without more information on his underlying conduct.”
In response to NBC News' request for comment, Trump transition spokesman Alex Pfeiffer said, "Kash is proud of his service at the DOJ, DOD, and DNI, and looks forward to answering any of Senator Durbin’s questions at his confirmation hearing."
Burgum confirmation hearing to go for second round of questions
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is starting a second round of questioning in Burgum's confirmation hearing.
Sanders asks Bessent if he agrees with Biden's warning about an oligarchy
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., asked Bessent if he agrees with Biden's remarks from his farewell address last night that an oligarchy is taking shape in America "of extreme wealth, power and influence that threatens our entire democracy, our rights and freedoms."
At first, Bessent dodged the question and then said that the three billionaires that Sanders listed in his question: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Rupert Murdoch "all made the money themselves.”
"Mr. Musk came to the country as an immigrant," Bessent added.
Murdoch is also an immigrant. Born in Australia, he inherited a local tabloid from his father in the 1950s and went on to build a multi-national media empire that includes Fox News, The New York Post and The Wall Street Journal.
Bessent said that he would note that Biden gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to two people who would qualify as oligarchs, though he didn't say who he was referring to.
Sanders asked if it's an oligarchic form of society when so few people have so much wealth and power. Bessent said, "Senator, I think it depends on the ability to move up and down."
Bessent said that the federal minimum wage shouldn't be increased
During an exchange with Sanders, Bessent said that the issue of the minimum wage is "more of a statewide and regional issue." Sanders then asked if the federal minimum wage should be increased from $7.25 and Bessent said it shouldn't be.
The last time the federal minimum wage increased was in 2009, after a 2007 measure phased in minimum wage increases over the next two years. According to the Department of Labor, that's the longest stretch in U.S. history that the federal minimum wage has remained stagnant since the the Federal Labor Standards Act established the minimum wage in 1938.
In 2023, Sanders partnered with other Democratic senators to introduce a bill that would have raised the minimum age to $17 an hour over the next five years, but the bill didn't advance from Congress.
