Senator Elizabeth Warren quizzes Treasury candidate Scott Bessent about taxation, financial stability, small bank support, and crypto regulation.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren highlighted a wide-ranging series of questions she expects to push with Scott Bessent before his nomination interview to be President-elect Donald Trump‘s Treasury Secretary shortly.
Senator Elizabeth Warren Questions Scott Bessent on Crypto & Tax Policies
In her 31-page letter to Bessent, Warren lists over 180 questions she wants the hedge fund manager to respond to regarding his stance on various financial and economic issues.
She questioned if stablecoins should be under the jurisdiction of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to handle issues like laundering cash and sanctions violations.
Warren asked Bessent to present a strategy for policing cryptocurrency firms that endanger the financial system’s stability.
Senator Elizabeth Warren is the leading Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee and a member of the Senate Finance Committee, a body examining Bessent’s candidacy. She has attacked his lack of government experience and his connections to Wall Street, but she has not stated her vote on his nomination.
Warren also questioned Bessent’s support for the 2017 tax cuts implemented during the Trump administration, which increased the federal deficit by $4.5 trillion. She took issue with his “3-3-3)” plan, which calls for cutting taxes, reducing the deficit, and increasing economic development.
The senator who opposed cryptocurrency wanted details on how Bessent would close the carried interest loophole and implement the Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax (CAMT).
Senator Warren’s Concerns Over Bessent View On Deregulation
Warren also questioned Bessent’s support for deregulation, connecting it to the 2008 financial crisis and Silicon Valley Bank’s (SVB) collapse in 2023. She referenced a Federal Reserve report criticizing SVB’s downfall on lax rules. Furthermore, the senator who opposed cryptocurrency questioned whether Bessent accepted the assessment.
She asked for reassurance that Bessent would uphold these crypto laws and refrain from implementing any measures that would trigger another recession.
