Takeaways from Day 3 of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominee hearings

CNN
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Thursday’s trio of confirmation hearings for President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees spotlights Trump’s domestic and economic agenda, which will dominate debates on Capitol Hill this year.

None of the nominees appearing on the Senate floor Thursday — Scott Bessent at Treasury, Doug Burgum at Interior and Lee Zeldin at the Environmental Protection Agency — appear to be in danger of not winning Senate confirmation. But their hearings offered a taste of the battles ahead that the Trump administration will fight this year to implement the president-elect’s agenda on taxes, spending, tariffs and the environment.

Bessent’s hearing highlighted in particular the looming deadlines in Congress this year on taxes and spending, including extending the Trump 2017 tax cuts. Republicans will have to navigate narrow majorities in the House and Senate to pass legislation.

Dealing with the expiring tax cuts is “the most important economic issue of the day,” Bessent told the Senate Finance Committee.

Burgum, the former North Dakota governor, praised Trump’s “energy dominance” agenda at his hearing, while Zeldin testified that he believes “climate change is real” but would not say whether he believes the EPA has an obligation to to regulate global warming pollution.

Here are excerpts from Thursday’s confirmation hearings:

Bessent, a hedge fund manager tapped to lead the Treasury Department, touted Trump’s economic agenda as a way to “trigger a new economic golden age” that would “uplift all Americans.”

That agenda includes making the 2017 tax cuts permanent, he said.

“As always with financial instability, it falls on the middle and working class,” Bessent said of the expiring tax breaks. “We will see a gigantic middle-class tax increase. We want to see the child tax credit halved. We want to see the deductions halved.”

Expanding the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, one of Trump’s signature accomplishments in his first term, is a top priority for the incoming administration and congressional Republicans, who control Capitol Hill. The sweeping individual income and property tax cuts – which included a reduction in the individual income tax rate, a doubling of the child tax credit and a near doubling of the standard income tax credit – are set to expire at the end of the year. Most of the law’s corporate tax breaks are permanent.

An extension of the expiring provisions, in addition to some changes to business taxes and interest rates, would increase the deficit by $4.6 trillion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Bessent sounded the alarm at Thursday’s hearing on the federal deficit, and lawmakers are preparing to raise the federal debt ceiling in the coming months.

But the Treasury candidate argued that the problem with the federal budget is spending, not revenue.

“We don’t have an income problem in the United States. We have a spending problem,” Bessent said.

Late. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Finance Committee, questioned Bessent about who would bear the brunt of the costs of Trump’s proposed tariffs on foreign goods imported into the United States.

“I believe that these rates — you can call it what you want when you’re trying, in terms of trying to screw it up — they’re going to be paid by our workers and small businesses,” Wyden said.

Bessent said he disagreed. “The history of tariffs and tariff theory, optimal tariff theory, doesn’t support what you’re saying,” he said. “Traditionally, we see that the current one, if we must say, uses a figure that has been thrown around in the press of 10 per cent. Then the currency traditionally appreciates by 4%, so the 10% is not passed through.”

Bessent also argued that the president-elect’s proposed economic policies, which include stiff tariffs, mass deportations and deregulation, would lower costs for consumers and increase their wages.

“I think they will increase real wages and lower inflation closer to the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, as (they) did under President Trump’s first administration,” Bessent told senators Thursday.

Most economists have said otherwise. An estimate by economists at the Yale Budget Lab said Trump’s plan to impose a 25% tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada and an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods could cause consumer prices to jump 0.75% in 2025 .That would equate to a loss of about $1,200 in purchasing power per household, in 2023 dollars, according to the estimate provided to CNN.

In response to questions about the Federal Reserve, Bessent said the Fed would maintain its independence during Trump’s second term as president.

“I think (the Fed) should be independent in terms of monetary policy decisions,” Bessent said during an exchange with Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada.

That would mean the Fed, which affects borrowing costs throughout the economy as America’s central bank, would continue to make its decisions without the influence of a sitting US president.

Burgum promises to follow the law and the constitution

Burgum told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Thursday that he will “follow the law and follow the Constitution” if confirmed, when asked if he would stand up to Trump’s demands.

It’s a similar question that has been asked by Democrats of Trump’s national security and law enforcement nominees during confirmation hearings this week.

“If you are ordered by the president to act in a way that is contrary to the department’s mission or the Constitution — such as drilling in Bears Ears National Monument, will you do as the president asks?” asked Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii.

“Well, Senator, of course, as part of my sworn duty, I will follow the law and follow the Constitution, and you can count on that,” Burgum testified. “I have not heard of anything that President Trump would do other than promote energy production for the benefit of the American people.”

Burgum, who is running for president against Trump in the 2024 Republican primary, praised Trump’s vision for “energy dominance” in his testimony Thursday and argued that the government should “prioritize innovation over regulation.”

“The American people have clearly put their trust in President Trump to achieve energy dominance,” Burgum told the committee, saying Trump’s energy agenda will “make life more affordable for every family in America by driving down inflation.”

Zeldin, a former New York congressman running for governor in 2022, said at his confirmation hearing Thursday that he sees climate change as a threat while defending the president-elect’s position on the issue.

“I think climate change is real,” Zeldin said when pressed by independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Sanders — who pointed out that 2024 was the planet’s hottest year in recorded history and cited the fires raging in California — asked Zeldin if he agreed with Trump that climate change “is a hoax.”

Zeldin said he believed climate change was real, then argued that Trump had criticized certain policies related to climate change, specifically raising concerns about the cost.

“The context in which I’ve heard him talk about it was with a critique of policies that have been enacted because of climate change,” Zeldin said. “I think he is concerned about the financial cost of some policies where there is a debate and a difference of opinion between the parties.”

Later, in an exchange with Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Ed Markey, Zeldin did not say whether he believes the agency he will lead has an obligation to regulate plant-warming pollution that comes from burning fossil fuels.

A 2007 Supreme Court ruling found that greenhouse gas emissions from burning oil, gas or coal qualify as air pollutants under the Clean Air Act — and that the EPA can regulate them.

Under President Joe Biden, the EPA has issued several important regulations that would reduce global warming pollution from tailpipes, power plants, and oil and gas operations. But Trump has promised to undo those rules.

Markey asked if Zeldin accepted the Supreme Court’s ruling that the EPA is “obliged to regulate” greenhouse gases.

“Do you accept that as a mandate?” Markey asked, referring to the wildfires in Los Angeles and the devastating hurricanes this summer.

“The decision does not require the EPA — it authorizes the EPA” to regulate greenhouse gases, Zeldin responded. “It doesn’t say ‘you’re obligated to do this and that’s it.’ There are steps that EPA must take to create an obligation.”

Both Republican and Democratic senators asked Zeldin if he would try to overturn Biden’s emissions regulations. Zeldin did not commit to doing so and said he would not prejudge the outcome.

“I’m not allowed to prejudge outcomes going into the rulemaking to make sure there’s sustainability of any decision that’s going to be made,” Zeldin told Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts of Nebraska.

Overturning Biden’s electric vehicle regulations is one of Trump’s campaign promises. However, Zeldin hinted that his agency would provide more oversight of EPA grant programs funded as part of Biden’s 2022 climate change law — something Republican lawmakers have called for.

“I want to be able to be accountable to all of you in terms of the dollars that are being spent by the EPA,” he told the senators. “I can only assume that there will be funding from that review that will be consistent with the law.”

This story has been updated with further developments.

CNN’s Matt Egan, Sarah Ferris, Clare Foran, Katie Lobosco, Tami Luhby, Bryan Mena, Ella Nilsen and Shania Shelton contributed to this report.