Thursday’s trio of confirmation hearings for President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees put the focus squarely on Trump’s domestic and economic agenda, which will dominate the debates on Capitol Hill this year.
None of the nominees appearing Thursday before the Senate – Scott Bessent at Treasury, Doug Burgum at Interior and Lee Zeldin at the Environmental Protection Agency – appear to be in any danger of not winning Senate confirmation. But their hearings offered a preview of the coming battles the Trump administration will fight this year to implement the president-elect’s agenda on taxes, spending, tariffs and the environment.
Here’s a look at some of the key takeaways from Thursday’s hearings:
Bessent says Trump tax cuts should be made permanent: Bessent, a hedge fund manager tapped to lead the Treasury Department, pitched Trump’s economic agenda as a way to “unleash a new economic golden age” that would “lift up all Americans.” That agenda includes making the 2017 tax cuts permanent, he said.
Extending the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, one of Trump’s signature achievements in his first term, is a top priority of the incoming administration and congressional Republicans, who control Capitol Hill. The sweeping individual income and estate tax cuts — which included a reduction in individual income tax rates, a doubling of the child tax credit and a near-doubling of the standard income deduction — are set to expire at the end of the year. Most of the law’s corporate tax reductions are permanent.
Burgum vows to follow the law and 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 whether he would stand up to demands made by Trump.
Zeldin says he believes “climate change is real”: Zeldin, a former New York congressman who ran for governor in 2022, said at his confirmation hearing Thursday that he sees climate change as a threat, while he defended the incoming president’s position on the matter.
“I believe that climate change is real,” Zeldin said, when pressed by independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
Read more takeaways from the third day of confirmation hearings here.
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