Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent spent the past two days testifying before lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
Bessent appeared before the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday and the House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday. It was the first time he addressed the panels since the One Big Beautiful Bill Act was signed into law in July 2025.
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During the hearings, Bessent faced sharp questions about rising inflation and cost-of-living concerns, the immunity deal reached between President Donald Trump and the IRS, and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte’s elevation to acting director of national intelligence. Republicans also took a victory lap on the tax cuts legislation passed last year.
The hearings come as legislators begin positioning for the midterm elections. Democrats are vying to wrest back control of the House and the Senate.
There were heated moments during the back-to-back hearings. During one particularly testy exchange, Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA) declared the Treasury under Bessent the “most corrupt Treasury Department in history.”
“The congresswoman is slanderous,” Bessent shot back. “She has nothing but unsubstantiated opinions, and I will not stand for that. There is nothing corrupt.”
Here are the key takeaways from his testimony.
Economy and inflation concerns take center stage
Democrats hit out at the Trump administration over inflation, which has trended up in recent months. They tied the price increases directly to Trump, in particular because of the energy price shocks resulting from the war with Iran.
“I was home last week having four town hall meetings in parts of my state that are bright red, and what they talked to me about was the pain of inflation going up, wage growth going down, the job market flattening, the Trump administration doesn’t seem to care,” said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee.
During the hearings, Bessent repeatedly compared the rate of inflation for food and other staples under former President Joe Biden to the lower rates during Trump’s second term.
Bessent also frequently said he thought the recent wave of inflation would be temporary. Inflation, while slightly falling during the first full year of Trump’s second term, has trended up quickly since the war with Iran.
Inflation during Trump’s first year reached as low as 2.3%, near the Federal Reserve’s 2% goal, and was at 2.4% in January. But since the war began in February, it has vaulted to 3.8% in April, according to the consumer price index. That has largely been the result of the energy price increases resulting from the conflict and subsequent disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz.
Core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy costs, is still lower now than before Trump entered office, something that Bessent pointed out throughout the hearings. He also pointed out that crude oil prices are down from a peak of over $100 per barrel that was notched earlier in the conflict.
“Do you think about how the American people are paying more for gas, groceries, and utilities since the president clearly said he didn’t?” Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) asked Bessent, referring to remarks Trump made about inflation.
Bessent emphasized that he thinks inflation will be a “short-term blip.”
But it is not just inflation plaguing Republicans. Consumer sentiment has also fallen to record lows.
Consumer sentiment fell to 44.8, down from 49.8 in April, according to a preliminary reading of the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for May, dropping lower than it did during the worst of the Great Recession and when the entire country was locked down during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Consumer sentiment is at an all-time low,” Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA) told Bessent on Thursday.
IRS deal with Trump
Democrats hammered Bessent hard after acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced that, while the Justice Department will not be operating a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, Trump and his businesses and his family will remain safe from audits from taxes filed before the settlement.
“This is an abuse of the IRS that goes way beyond anything that I have any familiarity with,” Wyden said during the hearing. “My view is this committee needs to investigate this on a bipartisan basis.”
Throughout his testimony, Bessent declined to provide much further comment on the matter because of the legal nature of the situation.
“I’m unable to discuss most of this because of ongoing litigation,” Bessent told Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).
After testifying before the Senate, Bessent addressed the matter once again early on in his House testimony.
“Let me be clear, as we’ve done throughout this matter, the Department of Treasury is following the direction of the Department of Justice,” he said, adding that Blanche has said the matter is still subject to litigation.
“So, I’m unable to comment further on it,” Bessent added. “That means I’m also not able to discuss any part of the settlement agreement.”
Pulte a topic of conversation
Bessent also faced questions about Pulte, who was recently named acting director of national intelligence.
Pulte has generated headlines during his time at the FHFA for his willingness to act as Trump’s attack dog and for recommending mortgage fraud investigations into several of Trump’s political opponents.
There have also been reports that Bessent and Pulte have clashed, which Bessent confirmed.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) said he had an “awkward” question for the treasury secretary and asked whether reporting was true that Bessent told Pulte he was going to punch him in the face last year during an event after hearing that Pulte had been badmouthing him to Trump.
“No, sir, I actually said I was going to kick his a**,” Bessent said.
During the Wednesday hearing, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), who is also the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, asked Bessent if he knew whether Pulte even has a security clearance, to which Bessent replied he did not.
“In being head of the FHFA, isn’t that a full-time job?” Warner asked.
“It’s a very important position,” Bessent responded.
Republicans and Bessent tout tax cuts
The hearings are the first for Bessent since Trump’s signature One Big Beautiful Bill Act was signed into law, and Republicans were keen to tout some of the benefits of the legislation, which extended expiring tax cuts and added new ones into the mix.
“This filing season, refunds were up more than 11% and tax refunds totaled nearly $325 billion,” House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) said. “A family of four with two kids making $73,000 or less owed zero in federal income taxes.”
Republicans have since rebranded the One Big Beautiful Bill Act as the “working families tax cuts.” Meanwhile, some Democrats during the hearings branded it the “big, ugly bill.”
Bessent noted that the tax plan prevented the expiration of provisions that would have resulted in a big tax increase for millions of people.
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“If opponents of the working family tax cuts had their way, our economy would have absorbed the largest tax hike in its history, over $5 trillion,” Bessent told lawmakers.
The testimony came the same week that the Treasury Department released a new analysis that found the majority of filers who claimed the new tax breaks enacted by Republicans last year earn less than $100,000.
