Scott Bessent, President-elect Trump’s pick to lead the Treasury, plans to tell senators during his confirmation hearing that the next four years will present an opportunity for an “economic golden age,” according to prepared remarks reported by multiple outlets.
Trump has “a generational opportunity to unleash a new economic golden age that will create more jobs, wealth and prosperity for all Americans,” Bessent is expected to tell members of the Senate Finance Committee Thursday morning, the Wall Street Journal reported.
“We can usher in a new, more balanced era of prosperity that will lift up all Americans and rebuild communities and families across the country,” he added, according to the Journal.
Bessent, the billionaire founder and CEO of hedge fund Key Square Group, will stress the importance of the U.S. securing vulnerable supply chains, levying sanctions to address national security concerns “and critically, we must ensure that the U.S. dollar remains the world’s reserve currency,” The Associated Press reported.
“Productive investment that grows the economy must be prioritized over wasteful spending that drives inflation,” Bessent plans to say in his testimony, per the news wire.
If confirmed, the investor would oversee the agency responsible for U.S. financial security.
Bessent has supported Democratic presidential campaigns in the past, and he worked for Democratic mega-donor George Soros before founding his own firm. Now, he’s a key figure in the Republican orbit and served as an economic adviser to Trump’s campaign.
A South Carolina native, he would be the first openly LGBTQ Cabinet member confirmed by the Senate under a Republican president.
He also plans to discuss his upbringing in his opening remarks.
“I was born and raised in the South Carolina Low Country,” Bessent’s remarks read, according to Axios. “My father fell into extreme financial difficulty when I was young. When I was 9 years old, I started working two summer jobs and I haven’t stopped working since.”
“My life has been the ‘only in America’ story that I am determined to preserve for future generations,” he adds.
The Treasury hopeful, who has vowed to divest from many of his assets once confirmed, will appear before the Senate Finance Committee at 10:30 a.m. EST.
