The Senate confirmed on Monday Scott Bessent, a gay billionaire hedge fund founder, as Treasury secretary in a vote 68-29. He's the first out LGBTQ+ person in the Cabinet position and one of only a few to ever hold a Cabinet or Cabinet-level position.
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Bessent, 62, will be expected to work with Republicans in the House and Senate to extend President Donald Trump's 2017 tax cuts and also work on the federal debt ceiling.
He'll also be front and center as Trump pushes tariffs on products from a host of countries, including Mexico and Canada. That plan may harm the U.S. economy, CNN notes.
The outlet also notes that Bessent enters the role as the economy is pretty stable — unemployment is at only 4.1 percent.
During his confirmation process, Bessent spoke of a "3-3-3" economic plan for the country. In it, he plans to take the federal budget deficit down by three percent, reaching three percent GDP, and increase oil producing to 3 million barrels more a day by 2028.
Related: Trump nominates investment manager Scott Bessent, a gay man, as Treasury secretary
“Scott has long been a strong advocate of the America First Agenda,” Trump said in a statement in November. “On the eve of our Great Country’s 250th Anniversary, he will help me usher in a new Golden Age for the United States, as we fortify our position as the World’s leading Economy, Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurialism, Destination for Capital, while always, and without question, maintaining the U.S. Dollar as the Reserve Currency of the World.”
The newly confirmed secretary is the first gay Senate-confirmed Cabinet member in a Republican administration. Richard Grenell, a gay Republican and longtime Trump ally, was acting director of national intelligence in Trump’s first administration after having been ambassador to Germany. The director of national intelligence is not part of the Cabinet but is considered Cabinet-level, so Grenell was the first out gay person to achieve that. Because of the interim nature of his post, he did not need Senate confirmation. Pete Buttigieg, secretary of Transportation in the Biden administration, was the first out Senate-confirmed Cabinet official.
Bessent is the founder of Key Square Capital Management. His background may upset some of the MAGA crowd, however. From 2011 to 2015, before starting Key Square, he was chief investment officer at Soros Fund Management, a hedge fund founded by George Soros, and Bessent had worked for Soros’s firm at various times since 1991. Soros is a major donor to Democrats and a bête noire of the far right. Some right-wingers claim — falsely — that Soros pays protesters who turn out to support liberal causes. But “Trump liked [Bessent’s] billionaire bona fides and the fact that he converted to the MAGA movement after working for Soros,” CNN reports.
Bessent donated to Trump’s presidential campaign and advised him on economic policy. He has contributed to some other Republican politicians and is a longtime friend of Vice President JD Vance, but he also has donated to Democrats, including Al Gore, Hillary Clinton, and former President Barack Obama. He hosted a fundraising event for Gore’s presidential campaign in 2000.
He lives in South Carolina with his husband, John Freeman, a former prosecuting attorney in New York City. They have two children.
