While President Donald Trump continues to push orders to halt federal grant and loan payments, fire Inspectors General and purge transgender people from the military, some members of the U.S. Senate continue to fight Trump over his controversial cabinet nominations.
[NOTE: The Senate this week confirmed former Fox & Friends host Pete Hegseth for Defense Secretary in a 51 to 50 vote with Vice President JD Vance‘s vote breaking the tie; for comparison, Hegseth’s predecessor Lloyd Austin was confirmed in 2021 by a Senate vote of 93-2.]
On Monday, the Senate also confirmed Trump’s nominee for U.S. Secretary of Treasury, billionaire Scott Bessent, founder of the hedge fund company Key Square Group in a vote tallying 68 to 29.
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, was one of the 29 Senators to vote against Bessent’s confirmation.
As seen below, Warren said of Bessent: “There’s a truth no one can escape. Someone has to pay to run this country. Folks like Scott Bessent think the burden should be just a little bit heavier on working people because billionaires like him are smarter than everyone else.”
I just voted NO on Scott Bessent’s Treasury Secretary nomination. He is Trump’s top pick to do the hard work of cutting taxes for every billionaire in America, himself included. pic.twitter.com/toQzGduEEf
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) January 28, 2025
She said of Bessent: “A billionaire willing to roll along on deregulation poses a threat to the economic well-being of every American.”
Warren added: “A billionaire who supports more tax cuts for every single billionaire in America is not someone who is watching out for hard working Americans.”
Chester Tam, Massachusetts Trump 2024 Campaign Vice Chair of Operations & Digital Media, replied not a refutation of Warren’s assessment of Bessent, but with criticism of Warren voting against Trump’s cabinet nominations.
Tam wrote: “Have you voted yes to any of Trump’s administration picks? You just love grandstanding and listening to yourself talk. Just vote on and move on. We already know it’s a no for everything.”
Note: Warren, as did every U.S. Senator, voted to confirm Trump’s Secretary of State choice Marco Rubio.
Warren, who said she was prepared to support Trump’s HUD nominee, former NFL player and former Texas state legislator Scott Turner, eventually voted against his nomination, too, after Turner failed to provide a customary FBI background check.
Before the Senate hearing, Warren and all Committee Democrats wrote a letter to Chair Tim Scott (R-SC) urging him to postpone the vote until the FBI background check was completed. But that didn’t happen. The Committee approved of Turner’s nomination, along party lines: 13-11.
