Trump Treasury Chief Can’t Help Laughing At Elizabeth Warren’s Elon Musk Zinger At Hearing
Trump Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent couldn’t help but laugh at Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-MA) crack about finding herself in agreement with former DOGE czar Elon Musk.
Musk famously fell out with President Donald Trump over the deficit-exploding “Big Beautiful Bill” in a feud that went from zero to “You might be a pedophile” in record time before cooling over the past few days.
Bessent testified Thursday at a Senate Finance Committee hearing on the Department of the Treasury’s budget proposal, during which Warren grilled him about the “Big Beautiful Bill” and its effect on the federal budget deficit.
When Warren cited Musk among the bill’s opponents, Bessent tried to joke about the strange bedfellows aspect — and Warren was quick with her rejoinder:
SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): Will this bill increase or decrease the deficit.
SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY SCOTT BESSENT: They’re varying scoring on that.
SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): You’re the secretary of the treasury so I’m asking you what is your view will this bill increase or decrease the deficit
SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY SCOTT BESSENT: deficit. It is my view that over the 10-year window it will decrease.
SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): Do you have anybody who agrees with you on this?
SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY SCOTT BESSENT: Yes, ma’am.
SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): Let me ask my question.
SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY SCOTT BESSENT: OK.
SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): Every credible independent expert agrees that Trump and the Republicans’ big, beautiful bill would add trillions of dollars to the national debt and would not even come close to paying for itself. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the Penn Wharton Budget Model, and the Yale Budget Lab all agree on this, and they’re looking at 10-year windows, thank you.
So do the Conservative Tax Foundation and Committee for Responsible Federal Budget conservative groups. Even Elon Musk and the Wall Street Journal are criticizing the bill for ballooning the national debt.
The only people who are saying publicly that it’s not going to add to the national debt are you, Donald Trump, the Republicans in Congress.
Do you have an independent group that has put forward numbers that disagrees with all of these conservative groups and disagrees with the Wall Street Journal on this?
SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY SCOTT BESSENT: Well, senator– and interesting to see you aligned with Elon Musk, but if I–
SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): You’re no more shocked than I am.
SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY SCOTT BESSENT: (LAUGHS) Thank you.
SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): (LAUGHS).
Warren went on to rebut Bessent’s insistence that the bill’s deficits would be balanced out by tariff revenue.
Watch above via the Senate Finance Committee.
