Scott Bessent Hammers Chuck Schumer Over Shutdown: U.S. ‘Held Hostage to His Poll Numbers’

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent torched Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for holding the American people “hostage” to his “poll numbers” and jibed that the Trump administration was instead “negotiating” with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) – a potential future primary challenger who is “nipping at his heels” during a Thursday morning appearance on CNBC.

The Senate failed to pass a continuing funding resolution on Tuesday which resulted in a federal government shut down that began on Wednesday morning. Senate negotiations remained deadlocked to the end as Democrats pressed for a deal in exchange for the seven votes needed to clear the chamber’s 60-vote procedural hurdle.

In the days since, the administration has moved to vocally blame Democrats for the shutdown and put responsibility for any fallout on the opposition.

Appearing on CNBC’s Squawk Box on Thursday morning, Bessent asked the hosts to “step back” and consider that Schumer was making a political stand to bolster his polling.

“Chuck Schumer did the right thing in the spring and led the Senate to a clean CR. What we’ve got here is the House has passed a clean CR, the Republicans have the votes in the Senate, and he will not allow his members to come across,” the treasury secretary said. “And what’s changed since then is his poll numbers.”

He continued: “So, the president, Vice President Vance, Speaker Johnson, Leader Thune, they’re not negotiating with Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, they’re negotiating with Representative Ocasio-Cortez because she’s nipping at his heels. And so, the American people are being held hostage by Chuck Schumer’s poll numbers.”

“And we’re starting to see some of the moderate, the very few moderate members left in the Democratic Party in the Senate drift toward wanting a solution, Chuck Schumer’s blocking it,” he added.

Bessent then said that he was “glad” he “left New York in 2020” when he looks at Schumer and Jeffries, who he mocked as caricatures of New York City machine Democrats, quipping: “Straight out of Brooklyn.”

Rounding on questions about the shutdown and the Trump administration’s moves to initiate cuts and mass layoffs, he noted these were the “ramifications” of the choice made by the Democratic congressional leaders

“If they want to shut the government down, then there are ramifications,” he said.

Watch above via CNBC.