evil. they stand guard as our spiritualgt strengths. so, let this be a message to the bank obstructionists. that this senator, as senate of the chair committee, i will leave no stone unturned when it comes to nazi evils and neither will senator whitehouse. i yield the floor. >> present from >> to be treasury secretary 68 -- 29 before the vote massachusetts senator senate finance committee ranking member of oregon talked about why they were voted against his nomination. senator mike crapo chairs the finance committee speaks in support of mr. bessent. >> at madam president i rising in opposition to scott bessent

to be the next secretary of the treasury. and in support of tens of millions of working families who need a government on their side. the treasury secretary is one of thee president's top economic advisors. he has the power to lower cost for hard-working people or to give billionaires another break. now, mr. bessent has a long history as an investment manager helping rich clients get even richer. in fact helping rich people get richer as a very profitable business for him. mr. bessent is now a billionaire himself. he asked not one but two multimillion dollar mansions including one in the bahamas. he has hundreds of millions of dollars in investments. now he spent a lot of money. but he saved money in one area. he is not paid the taxes he owes

according to an analysis from the congressional tax experts, he has refused to pay $2 million in taxes that he owed on his hedge fund earnings just in the past three years. and mr. bessent is a demonstrated track record of fighting to make life better or more affordable for working people. let's start with some of trump's economic plans that mr. bessent would be in charge of advancing. right now, republicans on the white house and congress are ine working through their plans to extend tax breaks for billionaires, and giant corporations. paid for in part with major cuts tola healthcare. in plain english republicans are hoping you will not notice major budget cuts for nursing homes that take care of your grandpa for the cuts in school lunches for poor kids.

move grandpa out of the nursing home and let the little kids go hungry in order to make sure a tiny handful of billionaires that aoa few more truckloads of cash from uncle sam. there is a truth no one can escape. someone has to pay to run this country. folks like scott bessent think the burden should be a little heavier on working people because of billionaires like him are smarter than everyone else. one place or the other, someone has to pay. so, during his hearing i asked mr. bessent about those cuts for billionaires. i asked if there any billionaires already richth enoh that they did not need another tax cut. and mr. bessent said it was unwise to single out anyone. not even billionaires. you would not want to single out a billionaire boston public

school teacher you would not want to single out a billionaire like mark zuckerberg whose company made a tax rate of just 11 and a half% in 2023 despite making nearly $40 billion with profits? you would not want to single out a billionaire like elon musk flying to mars for working families here on earth. those billionaires have better seats donald trump's inauguration then trumps own cabinet members. those of billionaires and dominate the american economy. this is the payout for trumps quote rich as [bleep] donors. and mr. bessent is another billionaire every billionaire in

america himself included. the top economic issue today is how do we lower costs were families and build an economy that works not just for the wealthy and the well-connected but in an economy that works for everyone. i am hammering out plans to make it a a little easier for familis to be able to pay their bills. to buy their home and build financial security. tax breaks for billionaires is the same old republican playbook of trickle-down economics. the rich get richer and leave everyone else behind. but that is not the trump administration's only bad idea. mr. bessent is been an advocate for the regulating wall street big banks load up on risk. deregulate wall street. a lot of people remember how that approach brought our economy to its knees back in

2008. remember millions of people who lost their homes the millions who lost their jobs. the millions who lost their savings. and now, once again president trump wants to run the same economic play and mr. bessent is the guys picked to do it. we do not need less oversight giant banks and wall street movers and shakers. risk is building in the system. too big to fail banks are quietly taking on riskier investments. that shadowy private credit market has slowed or stopped by a highlyft leveraged after waves of catastrophic losses, the insurance industry is facing a reckoning that even climate change deniers cannot ignore. without significant changes another financial crash is

coming. as we learn those big crashes fall hardest on hard-working people who are just trying to make a living. billionaire willing to roll along on deep regulation poses a threat to the economic being well-being of every. for every single bayonet in america for me this is simple. tryinger to wherever we agree to help working families. when they pursue economic policy that load up that risk in our financial system i will vote no on mr. bessent