“You can count on that, that I will,” Burgum said.
The question followed a prior exchange with Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), during which Burgum appeared lukewarm on the benefits of wind power—an energy source President-elect Donald Trump has frequently criticized as ineffective and harmful to wildlife.
North Dakota sources more than one-third of its power from wind turbines. But Burgum emphasized that wind is an intermittent power source that must be “balanced” with persistent sources to support the energy grid.
Still, the former North Dakota governor said the principles of the clean energy plans he and Wyden had previously discussed were “really sound” and pledged to work with him and other Democrats to find innovative solutions.
Burgum stressed, however, that he would prioritize national security in the process.
“We shouldn’t have incentives that enslave us to getting all of our critical minerals from a major power competitor, like China,” he said.
Cost-effectiveness, he added, would be another determining factor in securing his support for future alternative energy projects.
“If we can do something for $60 a ton versus $900 a ton, I’m going to choose the $60 a ton of avoided CO2.”
Wyden was receptive to that response.
"I see no reason for the U.S. to have a central bank digital currency," Treasury secretary nominee Bessent told the Senate Finance Committee during his confirmation hearing.
The purpose of a CBDC, said Bessent, is for nations that do not have any other investment alternatives.
"I view that many of these countries are doing it out of necessity," he said. "Whereas the U.S., if you hold U.S. dollars, you can hold a variety of securities."
President-elect Donald Trump, speaking at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville this past summer, promised that the United States would never have a CBDC while he is president.
"It’s over. Forget it," Trump said at the time.
Trump stated at a campaign stop in New Hampshire last year that a centralized digital dollar is "a dangerous threat to freedom."
Bessent, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to serve as Treasury secretary told the Senate Committee on Finance on Jan. 16 that if he is confirmed, he will "begin pushing for the purchase guarantees that were in the [phase one agreement] to be enforced." Additionally, he said he may ask for a "catch-up provision."
In that agreement, according to a January 2020 fact sheet published by the U.S. Trade Representative's Office, China committed to importing a certain amount of U.S. goods and services in 2021 and 2022.
According to an analysis published by the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) in July 2022, by the end of 2021, China had fallen behind by at least $200 billion in what it was committed to purchase from the United States.
"In the end, China purchased only 58 percent of the total U.S. goods and services exports over 2020-21 that it had committed to buy under the agreement," Chad Bown, then a Reginald Jones senior fellow at the PIIE and currently the chief economist for the U.S. Department of State, wrote in the PIIE report. "Put differently, China bought none of the additional $200 billion of U.S. exports committed under the deal."
The Wall Street veteran urged lawmakers and the American people to view the incoming administration's trade levies in three different ways.
Tariffs will be used to remedy unfair trade practices, either by industry or country, Bessent said. They can also be used as a general tool to generate revenues. Lastly, tariffs can be employed for negotiating efforts, alluding to levies that could be imposed on Mexico surrounding the fentanyl crisis.
"So I think you and the American people should think about those three broad categories," Bessent told lawmakers.
Bessent, President-elect Donald Trump's pick to head the Treasury Department, believes the interest rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) should stay independent.
Speaking in an exchange with Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Bessent also supports Trump offering his view on monetary policy, comparable to congressional lawmakers.
"President Trump is going to make his views known, as many senators did, three senators, including two on this committee," he said.
"I think, on monetary policy decisions, the FOMC should be independent."
Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida this past summer that U.S. presidents should have a “say” in interest rates. But he later clarified at his Economic Club of Chicago interview in October 2024 that the Fed should stay independent and he would not order it to cut interest rates.
"I believe that the previous administration was worried about raising U.S. energy prices during an election season," Bessent told Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) during his Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing on Thursday.
"I am perplexed to see that national security adviser [Jake] Sullivan, on his way out the door, is raising the sanctions level on Russian oil companies."
President Joe Biden's recent sanctions package has partly contributed to the recent uptick in energy prices. The latest restrictions aim to disrupt Moscow's ability to generate revenues from oil exports. The latest sanctions target more than 180 oil-carrying vessels that are thought to belong to the Kremlin's sanctions-averting shadow fleet, with some ships suspected shipping sanctioned Iranian crude.
Crude oil futures have risen about 9 percent this month, topping $78 per barrel.
"So what was good for that administration is being hoisted onto us," he added.
Bessent noted he would support imposing tougher sanctions on Moscow for its ongoing war in Ukraine.
"If any officials in the Russian Federation are watching this confirmation area, they should know that if I'm confirmed, and if President Trump requests and as part of his strategy to end the Ukraine war, that I will be 100 percent on board for taking sanctions up, especially on the Russian oil majors," Bessent told lawmakers.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
“Absolutely,” Burgum said, adding that he would even “go a step further.”
“When the dollars come up, this could be the most expensive wildfire, urban wildfire, in the history of the country,” Burgum noted. “It’s probably a time for all of us, together, to say, ‘What could we be doing differently?’”
Extending his sympathies to the California senator, Burgum said that his wife and daughter were in the Los Angeles area when the wildfires ignited last week and were forced to evacuate along with the local residents.
The former North Dakota governor also noted that his home state has faced its share of wildfires.
“Wildfire, whether it’s in North Dakota, California, you need three things,” Burgum said. “You need oxygen, you need fuel load, and you need a spark. And in both cases … when you have high winds, those sparks can come from above-ground power lines coming in contact with vegetation. And so we have to think about the grid.”
Padilla said he appreciated Burgum’s knowledge and experience on the subject.
“I support economics and markets,” Burgum told senators during a confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Thursday.
He added that the United States is in a cold war with China, North Korea, and Russia.
Burgum also noted that liquid natural gas-powered vehicles can be produced for $60 per ton of carbon sequestered, whereas EV’s come in at $900 per ton of carbon dioxide to achieve the same result.
When Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) asked about Treasury investment transparency requirements, Bessent said the United States must be aware that Beijing prioritizes military spending ahead of anything else.
"They are using their surpluses to fund their military machine in China," Bessent said.
Bessent said the United States must have a "very rigorous screening process" whenever it trades anything the Chinese regime could use for a military purpose. That includes screening technology, computer chips, and components necessary for advancing artificial intelligence and quantum computing.
“We want to make it more flexible and easier for developers to build affordable workforce attainable housing across our country, and so if confirmed by this committee, one thing that I want to do, which is top priority, is look at all the regulatory burdens from the federal side,” Turner told senators on the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee on Thursday.
He said he would work with states and localities to see how the agency could ease regulatory burdens so “developers can build, and so the supply goes up as demand goes up.”
“Because right now, we’re not meeting that demand,” Turner added.
As a developer, Turner provided several examples of “regulatory burdens” that make home construction more costly.
“Permitting fees, inspection fees, zoning difficulties on a local level—every locality is unique in their needs—but these are some of the things that we see as developers and builders that are hindering developers from building affordable and workforce housing and regulatory reform,” Turner said.
Turner cited data showing that regulations, on average, account for 40.6 percent of the total development costs of multi-family homes and roughly 23.8 percent of development costs for single-family homes.
Hirono pointed to comments from retired Gen. James Mattis, who served as defense secretary under President-elect Donald Trump’s first term, and retired Sgt. Chuck Hagel, who led the Pentagon under the Obama administration.
“These are two secretaries of defense. They know something about war,” Hirono said, asking Burgum if he was aware of their claims.
“No, I’m not aware of that specific testimony,” Burgum replied. “But I do know that within fossil fuels, the concern has been about emissions. And within emissions, we have the technology to do things like carbon capture to eliminate harmful emissions.”
Hirono called Burgum's position “troubling.”
In an exchange with Sen. Ron Wyden (R-Ore.), the Senate Finance Committee ranking member, Bessent shrugged off the senator's idea that tariffs are a consumption tax increase that will harm workers and small businesses.
"I would respectfully disagree," Bessent said. "The history of tariffs and tariff theory—optimal tariff theory—does not support what you're saying."
According to Bessent, trade levies can bolster the U.S. dollar and facilitate changes in consumer preferences. Additionally, foreign manufacturers will try to cut prices to maintain market share.
At his confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee Thursday, Bessent told lawmakers that renewing or extending the Trump-era tax cuts is the "single most important economic issue" today.
"As always, with financial instability that falls on the middle- and working-class people, we will see a gigantic middle-class tax increase," Bessent said.
By not keeping the TCJA intact, the Child Tax Credit and small business deductions will be halved, Bessent added.
In his opening statement at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Finance on Jan. 16, Bessent, the founder of investment fund Key Square Group, said his career experience has granted him a deep understanding of the global economy and its markets.
Echoing Trump's views on the economy, Bessent said the Treasury Department, under his leadership, would see itself as a plank of the U.S. national security platform. Bessent said the department must work to "secure supply chains that are vulnerable to strategic competitors" and "carefully deploy sanctions."
He also said the Treasury needs to work to maintain the U.S. dollar as the world's reserve currency.
With an eye toward domestic issues, Bessent said the federal government must take steps to "get our fiscal house in order" to avoid further inflation.
"As we rebuild our economy and lay the foundation for the next generation of American competitiveness, we must use all the tools available to realign the economic system to better serve the interest of working Americans," Bessent said.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Jan. 16 announced that Ashley Moody, Florida’s attorney general, will replace Sen. Marco Rubio in the U.S. Senate, praising her as someone who will deliver results in step with the incoming administration’s America-first agenda.
“Florida deserves a senator who stands unapologetically for conservative principles, supports law enforcement, has a strong record of combatting illegal immigration, and is ready to deliver on President Trump’s agenda. Attorney General Ashley Moody’s exemplary track record shows her commitment to these principles,” DeSantis said.
Rubio is expected to resign from his seat upon receiving Senate approval to become the next secretary of state, and DeSantis said Moody will quickly fill the vacant seat.
Joining DeSantis for the announcement, Moody accepted the appointment and promised to bring “the same persistence and passion and tenacity” to her role as a senator that she brought to her role as attorney general.
“You better believe, as a United States Senator, I will work for you, those that stand on that thin line between chaos and order, between safety and crime,” Moody said. “I have got your back … and we will all work to protect the American people and make all of our cities and states stronger and safer together.
“And so I have one message right now to President Trump and to my new colleagues on the United States Senate: America first, let’s get it done.”
DeSantis praised Moody for the work she has done in the past six years as Florida’s attorney general, saying, “I’m happy to say we’ve had an attorney general who has been somebody that has acted time and time again to support the values that we all share.”
He summarized her track record, touting her tough-on-crime stance and her work fighting against issues such as illegal immigration, the opioid and fentanyl crisis, anti-Semitism, influence and land ownership by communist China, and federal government overreach by agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
DeSantis praised Moody for taking legal action against the Federal Emergency Management Agency for alleged discrimination, urging the Supreme Court to remove illegal immigrants from voter rolls before the last election, speaking out against the now-failed state Amendments 3 and 4, and fighting to ban transgender surgeries for minors.
Moody said what angered her most as a state attorney general was the past four years of having to fight against federal government overreach.
She promised to work to give power back to the American people.
“The only way to return this country to the people, the people who govern it, is to make sure we have a strong Congress doing its job passing laws and actually approving the regulations that these unelected bureaucrats are trying to cram down on the American people,” Moody said.
She pointed out that she has already served in the judiciary and executive branches of government and joked that she might be the only senator to serve in a third branch.
Moody also stressed that she is a trained accountant and could “shrink the bloat of the federal government.”
DeSantis said he won’t appoint Moody’s replacement as Florida’s attorney general before the position is available, but he expects to appoint his Chief of Staff, James Uthmeier.
“James Uthmeier is kind of like Ashley,” DeSantis said. “He’s proven himself in these fights.”
He noted that he thinks Moody is leaving “big shoes to fill,” but that Uthmeier would do a good job.
Rubio has not yet submitted his resignation, although DeSantis anticipates that Moody will likely take office on Jan. 20.
“I want to thank Senator Rubio for his service in the United States Senate,” DeSantis said. “I think he will serve the country ably as Secretary of State, and we need it, because the last four years has been a total disaster.”
Florida’s other senator, Rick Scott, celebrated Moody’s appointment on social media platform X, welcoming her to the Senate.
“Ashley has done an incredible job fighting for Floridians and keeping our communities safe as Attorney General,” he wrote. “I have no doubt she will do an incredible job as senator.”
DeSantis said he notified Moody the night before the announcement. He praised the array of choices he had to choose from at both state and federal levels.
He specifically called out Florida Reps. Cory Mills and Kat Cammack, as well as Florida’s Secretary of State Cord Byrd and state Sen. Jay Collins.
Byrd and Collins both congratulated Moody on X shortly after the announcement and expressed their gratitude to the governor for considering them.
DeSantis also said he “got a kick out of” speculation that he would appoint himself but said that it was better to “hold the fort down” in Florida, saying his team can be very helpful to President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda.
“I think we can play a good supporting role when senators like Ashley Moody are fighting for us, and we can be there in support for some of those policies to bring power back to the states,” he said.
“I believe that climate change is real, as I told you, as far as President Trump goes, the context that I have heard him speak about it was with a criticism of policies that had been enacted because of climate change,” he said.
“And I think he's concerned about the economic costs of some policies where there's a debate and a difference of opinion,” he continued.
Sanders responded: "I respectfully disagree with you. I think he has called it a hoax time and time and time again.”
In fiscal year 2025, HUD’s budget reached $72.6 billion, an all-time high.
When Warren asked Turner, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the agency, if he would pursue additional federal investment for programs to lower the cost of building affordable housing, he said HUD needs to better utilize its existing budget.
We have to be “sure that the programs that we do have are meeting the intended need and serving those that are intended to serve,” Turner said.
Warren said Turner’s response gave her “real pause,” as she feels additional funding is needed to close the “terrible gap of affordable housing,” including for projects such as the HOME Investment Partnerships Program.
That program allocates formula grants to both states and localities to fund building, buying, and rehabilitating affordable housing for “rent or homeownership or providing direct rental assistance to low-income people.”
Turner said he would consider the HOME program at HUD, but that the agency’s massive budget is not “meeting the need that [it] was supposed to be meeting,” and that may mean improving housing inventory.
"We must do everything in our power to harness the greatness of American innovation with the greatness of American conservation and environmental stewardship, we must ensure we are protecting the environment while also protecting our economy,” he said.
The agency tallied more than 770,000 people living in homelessness on a single night in January 2024, which was an 18 percent increase from the year prior, and is likely an undercount.
“That’s a national embarrassment and something that cannot continue,” Turner said. “We have a housing crisis in our country, where American people and families are struggling every day.
“HUD is failing at its most basic mission.”
Turner said his years of childhood adversity illustrated these issues firsthand.
“I know my upbringing and background are not completely unique. There are many in this country—some sitting in this room today—who at one point or another had to overcome adversity of all kinds,” he said.
“These are experiences that members of my family and I have seen and lived. And that perspective is something I can bring to the table,” he added.
Turner said he would call for HUD’s remote employees to return to the office, build more housing “of all kinds,” and to continue and expand policies from Trump’s first administration, including Opportunity Zones.
These zones are economically distressed communities that state governors can nominate for certification by the Treasury Secretary and may receive preferential tax treatment for new investments.
Turner worked with Opportunity Zones while serving as executive director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council in the first Trump administration.
His nomination hearing before the Senate Environment Committee is underway.
Here’s what to know about Zeldin:
- Represented New York’s 1st Congressional District between 2015 and 2023.
- Served on the House Foreign Affairs and Financial Services committees.
- Served in the U.S. Army from 2003 to 2007 as an intelligence officer and military attorney for the Judge Advocate General Corps.
- Has not directly worked in the environmental sector.
- Ran for New York governor in 2022 and lost by about 6 percentage points in the deep blue state.
Burgum’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee kicks off at 10 a.m. on Thursday.
Here’s what to know about Burgum:
- Burgum served as the 33rd governor of North Dakota from 2016 to Dec. 15, 2024.
- He was believed to be on Trump’s shortlist for vice president.
- Burgum ran against Trump in the 2024 Republican presidential primary before dropping out and endorsing the 45th president.
- He served as the president of Great Plains Software from 1984 to 2001, when he sold the company for $1.1 billion to Microsoft.
- Burgum is a big supporter of drilling—a stance that likely contributed to Trump’s decision to tap him to lead a new National Energy Council on top of his proposed role as interior secretary.
- The new council will include all government entities related to the permitting, production, generation, distribution, regulation, and transportation of energy.
- Burgum would also have a seat on the White House National Security Council as chair of the National Energy Council.
He is set to face questions from the Senate Finance Committee regarding his stance on several matters, including tariffs and trade.
Bessent’s opening remarks, according to The Associated Press, will emphasize the need to secure vulnerable supply chains, levy sanctions, and reprioritize federal spending.
“Productive investment that grows the economy must be prioritized over wasteful spending that drives inflation,” Bessent states in his testimony.
He has also backed extending Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.
Trump said in his nomination announcement that Bessent “will support my policies that will drive U.S. competitiveness, and stop unfair trade imbalances, work to create an economy that places growth at the forefront, especially through our coming world energy dominance,” according to a Nov. 22 statement.
Bessent is also expected to face questions concerning potential conflicts of interests and agency independence.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The U.S. Senate will continue its slate of high-stakes hearings to consider President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominations days before his inauguration.
Billionaire financier Scott Bessent, whom Trump tapped to head the Treasury Department, will headline the Jan. 16 schedule and appear before the Senate Finance Committee.
Former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, whose confirmation hearing for secretary of the Department of Interior was delayed over paperwork issues, will sit in front of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Lee Zeldin, who has been nominated to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, will testify before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.
The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs will hold its nomination hearing for Scott Turner, Trump’s choice to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The Trump Tariffs
Wall Street will pay close attention to Bessent’s comments on tariffs.
Bessent has expressed support for the president-elect’s trade pursuits. In a Fox News op-ed shortly after the November 2024 election, Bessent endorsed the tactic as a negotiating tool, revenue generator, and shield for U.S. industries.
The hedge fund manager has signaled over the past few months that Trump’s tariff policies could be watered down.
In a Nov. 6, 2024, interview with CNBC, Bessent said that tariffs should be “layered in gradually” to ensure that higher prices appear over time and are then offset by the incoming administration’s disinflationary efforts, such as cutting red tape.
In October 2024, he also told the Financial Times that Trump’s universal tariffs were “maximalist” stances that could be chipped away.
“My general view is that at the end of the day, he’s a free trader,” Bessent said. “It’s escalate to de-escalate.”
Trump has proposed across-the-board 10 percent to 20 percent levies on all imports, with 60 percent to 100 percent tariffs on Chinese goods arriving in the United States. He has also threatened 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico.
Media reports, including one from The Washington Post, suggested that Trump could scale back his tariffs. The president-elect recently denied these reports on his Truth Social social media platform.
“The story in the Washington Post, quoting so-called anonymous sources, which don’t exist, incorrectly states that my tariff policy will be pared back. That is wrong. The Washington Post knows it’s wrong. It’s just another example of Fake News,” Trump posted.
The 3-3-3 Strategy
Lawmakers will likely explore the Key Square Group founder’s “three arrows” growth strategy, also known as his 3-3-3 initiative.
Last summer, speaking at a Manhattan Institute event, Bessent recommended three different economic strategies that the Trump administration could use to stimulate the national economy and improve the federal government’s finances.
This would involve aiming for 3 percent real economic growth, boosting domestic crude oil production by 3 million more barrels per day, and reducing the budget deficit to 3 percent of GDP by the end of Trump’s second term.
“How do you get that?” Bessent asked during the conference. “Through deregulation, more U.S. energy production, slaying inflation, and forward guidance on competence for people to make investments so that the private sector can take over from this bloated government spending.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) authored a 31-page letter to Bessent on Jan. 12, featuring dozens of questions. In it, she requested further information on his economic strategy and positions on other issues and urged him to be prepared to answer her questions at the confirmation hearing.
When examining Bessent’s 3-3-3 proposal, Warren asked why the first Trump administration’s tax cuts and deregulatory efforts failed to spur 3 percent growth.
“There is no comprehensive record of your positions relating to various Treasury-related duties and key policy areas within the Secretary’s orbit,” Warren wrote.
“The Treasury Secretary must safeguard our financial system, ensure the fairness of our tax system, and expand economic opportunities for the middle class, not just help rich investors make more money.”
A ‘Shadow Fed Chair’
While Bessent dismissed this idea, senators could learn more about his proposal to select a “shadow Fed Chair.”
In October 2024, Bessent recommended that Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s successor be chosen before his second term ends in 2026.
“You could do the earliest Fed nomination and create a shadow Fed chair,” Bessent told Barron’s. “And based on the concept of forward guidance, no one is really going to care what Powell has to say anymore.”
After a meeting with Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) last month, Bessent walked back the comments.
“As the president said on Sunday, and I’m in complete agreement with him, that Jay Powell will serve out his term,” Bessent told CNBC.
Trump has repeatedly stated that Powell can serve the remainder of his term. The central bank chief has also confirmed that he would not step down if asked to, and said his termination would “not be permitted under the law.”
The president-elect and Powell have had a strained relationship since Trump’s first term. However, the Fed chairman has stated that he expects to maintain a cordial working partnership with the incoming administration.
A Look at the National Energy Council
As he assembled his energy-focused administration, Trump announced in November 2024 that he will create a National Energy Council chaired by Burgum, who is nominated as secretary of the Department of Interior.
Lawmakers will likely try to garner more significant insights into Burgum’s new role and the council’s agenda.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum speaks to reporters following the CNN presidential debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump in Atlanta on June 27, 2024. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Burgum, who will also have a seat on the National Security Council, will spearhead a whole-of-government panel expected to partner with all agencies and departments that work with regulations, permits, oil and gas production, and transportation.
The former North Dakota governor stated that the White House council would foster coordination within the federal government to advance domestic energy and assert U.S. energy dominance.
The president-elect and his team have signaled that the incoming administration will take an all-of-the-above approach to energy, from fossil fuels to renewables.
During his two terms as governor, Burgum championed his state’s oil and gas industry and supported renewable energy solutions, such as wind power.
‘Drill, Baby, Drill’
Under Trump, Burgum could push to auction more federal lands for future oil and gas development.
The Department of the Interior could play a substantial role in realizing Trump’s energy plans as it oversees energy development and other activities on about 500 million acres of public land.
Trump wants to embark upon a deregulatory crusade, and permits will be one area to transform.
As interior secretary and energy czar, Burgum could lead an accelerated permitting and regulatory process that would help expand oil and gas drilling and production.
On the 2024 campaign trail and since his electoral victory, Trump has repeatedly promised to embrace the “frack, frack, frack” and “drill, baby, drill” mantras for his second term’s energy policy.
The potential blueprint will ignite probing by Democrat lawmakers in the upper chamber. Officials could concentrate on energy development in environmentally sensitive regions such as Alaska’s wildlife refuge or areas bordering the Grand Canyon.
Concerning emissions and threatening the country’s climate commitments, Burgum has a record of endorsing the concept of carbon capture, which he called a “game-changer” for the world. The idea involves capturing emissions before they reach the atmosphere.
In December 2023, Burgum applauded the Energy Department’s $350 million grant to Minnkota Power Cooperative for its proposed carbon capture project.
Senators May Ask Turner About Housing Crisis
The hearing for Scott Turner, Trump’s pick to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development, will take place at 10 a.m. ET on Jan. 16 before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
Turner is a former National Football League cornerback who led the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during Trump’s first term.
He will likely be asked questions about how he will address the U.S. housing crisis, including from committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren.
“Are you committed to using the tools of the federal government to increase the supply of affordable housing as HUD Secretary?” Warren asked Turner in a Jan. 12 letter outlining her chief questions for him.
According to Pew Research, the percentage of Americans who describe themselves as “very concerned” about housing costs increased from 61 percent in 2023 to 69 percent in 2024.
Scott Turner, executive director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council, at Second Change Farms in Wilmington, Del., on Sept. 14, 2020. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)
Thirty-year fixed mortgage rates have increased markedly since 2020. Yet today’s nearly 7 percent average is still well below the highs of above 16 percent in the early 1980s.
Over the past four decades, homes have become significantly more expensive relative to what Americans earn. The ratio of housing prices to income rose from 3.5 to 5.8 during that period, according to an analysis of Federal Reserve data from Visual Capitalist.
Turner has secured endorsements from U.S. Mortgage Insurers and other housing industry groups.
Zeldin Could Face Scrutiny Over Paid Op-Eds
Prospective Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin will testify to lawmakers on Jan. 16. He will do so before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works at 10 a.m. ET.
The former New York congressman, who lost a 2022 gubernatorial race against current New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, will likely face questions about climate change and the safety of fossil fuels, similar to those posed to Trump’s energy secretary nominee, Chris Wright, during his Jan. 15 hearing.
In addition, the nominee’s paid op-eds will almost certainly draw attention.
Zeldin’s financial disclosure revealed that he wrote opinion articles on behalf of CRC Advisors, Point Made PR, and other clients for the New York Post, Fox News, and Real Clear Policy. One such op-ed, published in Real Clear Policy, netted Zeldin $25,000. That article did not make it clear that CGCN Group, a lobbying firm with ties to the oil and gas industry, was paying the author.
It could be said that President-elect Donald Trump’s Treasury Secretary nominee Scott Bessent’s plan for the world’s largest economy was inspired by the late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
A decade ago, the Japanese prime minister sought to overhaul the economy using a strategy called the “Three Arrows.” The three-pronged approach consisted of increasing government spending, easing monetary policy, and adjusting the economic landscape to bolster growth prospects.
“I became convinced that Abe and his circle of advisers would commit to directing all of the resources of the prime minister’s office to this multipronged and daunting task,” Bessent wrote in a 2022 essay for The International Economy, titled “Abe’s Complicated Legacy.”
So, in 2025 and beyond, the new Trump administration might fire off three different types of arrows.
Last summer, Bessent, a Wall Street billionaire financier, outlined a “three arrows” approach to stimulating the U.S. economy and improving government finances.
The first step would be to aim for 3 percent real economic growth.
“How do you get that?” Bessent posed the question at a June Manhattan Institute conference. “Through deregulation, more U.S. energy production, slaying inflation and forward guidance on competence for people to make investments so that the private sector can take over from this bloated government spending.”
For a second arrow, the hedge fund mogul, a deficit reduction advocate, would push Trump to lower the budget deficit to 3 percent of GDP by the end of his second term.
And the final arrow, according to the founder of Key Square Group, is boosting domestic crude oil production by 3 million more barrels per day.
“So that would be my 3-3-3,” Bessent said.
While Trump has pledged to “restore America’s prosperity,” economists and market watchers have reached different conclusions about whether Bessent’s three arrows can accurately hit their targets.
The message is that if anyone can do it, it might be Bessent.
“Bessent will, in fact, be invaluable to Trump as he navigates his way through the very tricky business of global trade and its impacts on interest rates, currency strength, inflation, and ultimately, your pocketbook,” said Mark Malek, the CIO at Siebert Financial, in a note emailed to The Epoch Times.
3 Percent Growth
Real GDP increased at an average annual rate of 2.3 percent from 2018 to 2023, compared to 2.5 percent last year.
Looking ahead to next year, Goldman Sachs Research estimates the economy will grow by 2.5 percent, higher than the consensus estimate of 1.9 percent.
The International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook predicts that the United States will grow 2.2 percent, higher than many other advanced economies.
A chorus of economists has offered various assessments of Trump’s economic plans, stating that tariffs, for instance, could be a drag on growth.
“In net terms, we expect a second Trump administration to be a slight drag on GDP growth,” said Paul Ashworth, the chief North America economist at Capital Economics, citing trade levies.
A container vessel moves past the port in Qingdao in eastern China's Shandong Province on Jan. 14, 2020. (Chinatopix Via AP)
The president-elect has proposed 10–20 percent universal tariffs on all imports and levies as high as 100 percent on Chinese goods arriving in the United States.
Oxford Economics says tariffs may have modest effects on GDP, and trade values could decline in the coming years.
“Consequently, we think Trump 2.0 will add to the globalization that is already taking place,” said the economic research group in a note.
“We expect Trump’s tariffs will reduce global trade values by more than 7 percent by 2030 compared to our pre-election forecasts. By contrast, we only anticipate a modest 1.8 percent hit to nominal GDP over the same period.”
According to James Pethokoukis, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, slower productivity and labor force growth are other potential roadblocks to achieving a 3 percent economy.
JPMorgan Chase’s 2025 economic outlook forecasts that labor force growth will be 0.45 percent and productivity growth will be 1.35 percent.
By comparison, labor force growth contributed nearly 3 percent to GDP growth in the 1970s, Pethokoukis notes.
“Now it’s projected at just a half point at best through 2025, largely due to retiring baby boomers and declining birth rates,” he said in a report. “This demographic shift, which all rich economies are experiencing, limits U.S. economic growth unless offset by much faster productivity growth.”
This is not lost on incoming administration officials.
Bessent has stated that one of the goals for the soon-to-be 47th president is to get people back into the workforce.
Despite solid post-crisis employment growth, the labor force participation rate has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels. Recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data show it tumbled to 62.5 percent in November, down from 63.3 percent in February 2020.
A public policy analysis organization anticipates that the Trump-era tax cuts will benefit the broader economy in the long term.
According to the Tax Foundation, extending the individual, business, and estate provisions of the Trump-era tax cuts would increase the GDP by 0.8 percent and create close to 600,000 new full-time jobs over the next decade.
Citigroup economists are not altering their pre-Trump baseline expectations, according to a Dec. 11 note.
“While the uncertainties are significant, we’re not inclined to appreciably modify our pre-Trump baseline. In our view, investors who stay riveted on the economy’s fundamentals will reap benefits,” they said.
If the 3-3-3 plan is accomplished, it could be a boon for the U.S. dollar and result in lower interest rates, “creating a net favorable environment” for financial markets, say Allianz economists.
“But much will depend on how exactly inflation, growth, and monetary policy would react to another oil production boom,” they said in a Nov. 28 note.
3 Million Barrels of Oil
Trump has pledged to embrace the mantra of “drill, baby, drill.” He wants to expand drilling on federal lands, speed up the permitting process, and accelerate liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports.
While the next administration’s deregulatory strategy will be a terrific opportunity for energy companies, market experts are debating whether it will boost output for an industry dependent on supply-demand dynamics.
Prices are expected to be lower next year as global energy markets face a surplus.
“It is likely we see more permits for drilling on federal lands and less regulations by reducing permitting times for pipelines, to name a few options,“ said James Mick, a senior portfolio manager at Tortoise. ”Yet we believe that U.S.-based firms will make decisions on whether to drill on economics, not rhetoric from the president.”
Mick anticipates crude prices will trade within a $60–80 range next year.
The industry’s break-even levels are about $64 a barrel, based on surveys of productions by the Federal Reserve banks of Dallas and Kansas.
An oil drill in Midland, Texas, on Feb. 5, 2015. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
One industry executive says his firm can produce oil profitably as low as $20.
“My view is $55 is a really good number,” Adam Ferrari, the CEO of Phoenix Capital Group, recently told The Epoch Times.
Trump, with his administration picks—shale executive Chris Wright at the Department of Energy and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum at the Interior Department—is signaling that production is high on his to-do list, says Ed Crooks, the senior vice president at Wood Mackenzie.
“The common thread in the thinking on energy expressed by both Wright and Burgum is that they want to boost production of all types of energy, including fossil fuels,” Crooks said in a note.
“They do not deny that human-caused climate change is a real threat that needs to be addressed. But they argue that there are other priorities for a policy that are more important and more urgent and that oil and gas can continue to play the central role in the global energy system into the indefinite future.”
According to Energy Information Administration (EIA) data, the United States currently produces about 13.2 million barrels per day (bpd), slightly higher than the record 13.1 million bpd level observed in Trump’s first term.
Domestic crude production will rise to 13.5 million bpd in 2025, the EIA forecast in its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook.
3 Percent Deficit
In fiscal year 2024, the federal deficit as a share of the GDP was nearly 7 percent.
According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), a nonpartisan budget watchdog, the deficit-to-GDP ratio is expected to range between 5.5 prevent and 7.1 percent annually over the next 10 years.
Bessent says restoring this figure to its level during Trump’s first term will require a combination of spending cuts and stronger economic growth.
However, with rising interest payments and a ballooning national debt—it recently topped $36 trillion for the first time—the United States “will miss the target,” says Peter Schiff, the chief economist and global strategist at Euro Pacific Asset Management.
“Reducing it to 3 percent would require over $1 trillion in annual spending cuts. That will never happen,” Schiff said on social media platform X earlier this month.
“To achieve $1 trillion in cuts, the U.S. must also cancel automatic increases in key programs like Social Security and offset the increased spending as maturing low-yield debt rolls over at much higher interest rates.”
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) aims to list $2 trillion worth of spending cuts.
In addition to spending cuts, Bessent says the United States could grow the economy to diminish the threats from its mounting debt challenges.
“I think this is the last chance for America to grow its way out of its debt problem,“ Bessent said on CNBC’s ”Squawk Box“ in September. ”If you can increase growth, you can change the trajectory.”
John Velis, a macro strategist at BNY Mellon, says it will be difficult for the federal government to return the budget deficit to 3 percent of the economy, particularly with the Tax Cut and Jobs Act likely to be extended.
“We still await details of the new Department of Government Efficiency’s plans to scale back spending, but we would be surprised to see savings equivalent to the size of the tax cuts. Hence, it is unlikely for fiscal policy to remain deficit neutral,” Velis said in a note last month.
Meanwhile, Trump has stated that the bulk of federal outlays and unfunded obligations—Social Security and Medicare—will not be touched. He reiterated this again during the Dec. 16 Palm Beach, Florida, press conference announcing SoftBank’s $100 billion investment.
Bessent agrees that tackling these programs will be critical to restoring America’s long-term fiscal health. However, the seasoned Wall Street investor does not think future administrations should avoid taking on this herculean task.
“These entitlements are massive. I think the next four years isn’t the time to deal with them,” Bessent said at the Manhattan Institute conference. “The next step is for a future administration to have the confidence to deal with the entitlements.”
The trust funds for Medicare and Social Security are projected to be depleted by 2036 and 2033, respectively.
Ultimately, according to the Tax Foundation’s analysis, Trump’s public policy proposals could reduce federal revenues by about $3 trillion over the same period.
Before the 2017 tax cuts were implemented, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected revenues would tumble by about $100 billion. However, based on the government’s numbers, revenues have been $500 billion higher than the watchdog’s estimates.
John Ratcliffe, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for CIA director, told senators Wednesday that he would prioritize meritocracy in the agency, bring the cyber fight to China, and maintain robust intelligence gathering capabilities that have at times been weaponized against Americans.
Ratcliffe, who served as Director of National Intelligence (DNI) during the first Trump administration and previously served as a U.S. House representative for Texas, delivered the remarks to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence during a Jan. 15 hearing to vet his nomination to lead the CIA.
From eliminating what he viewed as needless social justice programs to implementing a strategy for developing offensive cyber weapons, here are four of the key takeaways from Ratcliffe’s testimony:
Putting Merit First
Ratcliffe said he would employ “the ultimate meritocracy” throughout the agency and would seek to remove what he considered a “politically motivated, bureaucratically imposed social justice agenda” that distracts from the agency’s core mission.
That said, Ratcliffe affirmed that the backgrounds and views of the agency’s employees were necessarily diverse and vowed that he would not hire or fire employees based on their political views.
“I will unapologetically empower the most talented, hardest working, and most courageous risk-takers and innovators to protect the American people and advance America’s interests. And I will not tolerate anything or anyone that distracts from our mission,” Ratcliffe said.
“Above all, there will be a strict adherence to the CIA’s mission: We will collect intelligence, especially human intelligence, no matter how dark or difficult.”
Ratcliffe said that “political or personal biases” should not be allowed to cloud the judgment of the agency’s employees or to diminish the quality of its products. Ensuring that, he said, begins with holding members of its community accountable when they failed to deliver on expectations.
Likewise, he added that he would direct the agency to create opportunities for employees to serve on rotations in the private sector to further hone their professional skills.
Focus on Countering China-led Axis
Ratcliffe also underscored that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is increasingly coordinating with Iran, North Korea, and Russia to undermine the United States and to displace it as the world’s foremost superpower.
The threat of that growing axis of adversaries, he said, is further compounded by those powers’ efforts to advance cutting-edge technologies, including the application of artificial intelligence and quantum computing.
He said the CCP understands “who wins the race in the emerging technologies of today will dominate the world of tomorrow.”
“These threats converge at a time of rapid technological change,” Ratcliffe said. Emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and quantum computing will define the future of national security, geopolitical power, and human civilization.”
As such, Ratcliffe pointed to his record as DNI under the first Trump administration, wherein he devoted greater resources to countering the CCP’s malign influence and reorienting the agency to contend with China as the nation’s leading national security threat.
“The Chinese Communist Party remains committed to dominating the world economically, militarily, and technologically,” he said.
Putting Cyber Capabilities on Offense
Ratcliffe said the key to countering the CCP and its partners will be the development of offensive tools to confront and deter cyber security threats posed by adversarial foreign nations.
Calling such threats an “invasion through our digital borders from half a world away,” Ratcliffe said the United States needs to impose greater consequences on nations seeking to violate the integrity of U.S. telecommunications and other digital systems in order to deter future aggression.
The former director of national intelligence also agreed with Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) that developing a cyber deterrent strategy that mirrors systems used in other areas of national defense would be useful.
“Our adversaries… understand that the nations who win the race of emerging technologies of today will dominate the world of tomorrow,” Ratcliffe said.
To that end, he suggested that the CIA would need to develop tools to allow U.S. cybersecurity professionals to “go on offense” against China to deter further major cyberattacks on U.S. infrastructure. He acknowledged that deploying such capabilities would be a policy decision for Congress.
Defending FISA 702, Opposing Wiretap Warrants
Ratcliffe also addressed congressional concerns over the future of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA 702).
That law allows U.S. intelligence agencies to eavesdrop on foreign targets in foreign countries, but Americans or those living in the United States frequently have their own calls and messages intercepted as part of this collection process when communicating with those being surveilled.
This allows intelligence agencies, at times, to query information that reveals constitutionally protected information about American citizens.
The law has come under widespread condemnation for acknowledged abuses, particularly in the FBI, where agents queried the personal information of Americans more than 3.4 million times in 2021 alone.
Ratcliffe noted that the CIA had queried nowhere near that number and stressed that, while some reforms were needed to safeguard civil liberties, FISA 702 provided a trove of national security information that simply could not be acquired by other means.
“Sometimes more than half of the actionable foreign intelligence that we provide to the president as the policy maker to act as commander in chief comes from FISA derived or 702 derived action,” Ratcliffe said.
To that end, Ratcliffe described FISA 702 as an “indispensable national security tool” to detect and thwart emerging threat actors “over there, before they come over here.”
Ratcliffe likewise added that he opposed requiring warrants for queries on Americans’ information because intelligence officials would likely not be able to provide sufficient evidence to obtain warrants at all, much less in time to mitigate emerging threats.
The atmosphere was congenial as Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) faced the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in a confirmation hearing on Jan. 15.
Rubio, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, testified before a committee he has served on for 14 years. He addressed foreign policy questions from friendly colleagues on both sides of the political aisle to move forward with his confirmation process, with the chair and the ranking member of the committee concurring that he is qualified for the job.
As the son of Cuban immigrants who fled communism and built a stable life in the United States, Rubio was critical of the challenges presented by communist regimes such as China. He promised a robust foreign policy agenda that prioritizes U.S. interests and restores the global order that Beijing and other adversarial nations have weaponized to their advantage.
Below are some key takeaways from the hearing, which lasted nearly five hours.
US First
Trump has often described an “America First” outlook when weighing foreign relations.
In his opening remarks before the committee, Rubio offered his vision of this America First foreign policy concept. He set the scene by describing a trend since the end of the Cold War—that the United States has moved away from advancing its own national interests to instead serve a “liberal world order.”
Rubio said that in serving this post-Cold War global order, the United States has taken on trade, immigration, and national security policies that have “shrunk the middle class, left the working class in crisis, collapsed [U.S.] industrial capacity, and ... pushed critical supply chains into the hands of adversaries and of rivals.”
While the United States has often placed the global order above its core national interests, other nations—namely, China—have acted in the opposite way, Rubio said.
“We welcomed the Chinese Communist Party into the global order, and they took advantage of all of its benefits, and they ignored all of its obligations and responsibilities,” he said.
Rubio said Trump’s election win is a mandate showing that the U.S. public wants “a strong America engaged in the world, but guided by a clear objective to promote peace abroad and security and prosperity here at home.”
China: The ‘Most Potent’ Adversary
China was a centerpiece of the nomination hearing.
A longtime China hawk, Rubio was twice placed on Beijing’s sanctions list in 2020 for his human rights advocacy.
He characterized the Chinese regime as “the most potent and dangerous, near-peer adversary this nation has ever confronted.”
“They have elements that the Soviet Union never possessed,” the prospective incoming secretary said. “They are a technological adversary and competitor—an industrial competitor, economic competitor, geopolitical competitor, a scientific competitor.”
In every realm, he said, the regime poses an extraordinary challenge and one that “will define the 21st century.”
“We’ve allowed them to get away with things, and frankly, the Chinese did what any country in the world would do, given these opportunities—they took advantage of it,“ Rubio said. ”And so I think now we’re dealing with the ramifications of it.”
If the United States doesn’t change course, Rubio said, it will soon head into a world where “much of what matters to us on a daily basis—from our security to our health—will be dependent on whether the Chinese allow us to have it or not.”
He said he believed this could happen in less than 10 years.
Defending Taiwan
As a democratic island just next to the Chinese mainland, Taiwan has faced increasing military harassment from Beijing over the past few years.
To deter the longstanding ambition of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to annex Taiwan, Rubio supports what’s called a “porcupine strategy”: to make the price of an invasion too high for Beijing to pay.
Rubio said he was far from being alarmist about the regime’s motives.
“Unless something dramatic changes—like an equilibrium where they conclude that the costs of intervening in Taiwan are too high—we’re going to have to deal with this before the end of this decade,” he said.
The CCP’s influence has barred Taiwan from participating in various United Nations bodies, and Beijing has been trying to flip Taipei’s diplomatic partners. One latest example of that is Nauru, which switched allegiance to Beijing in January 2024, just two days after Taiwan’s presidential and parliamentary elections. The decision left Taiwan with 12 diplomatic allies.
Supporting Taiwan, in Rubio’s view, also involves finding “every opportunity possible to allow Taiwan to engage in international forums where important issues are discussed and they’re not represented.”
Panama Issue ‘Very Serious’
The topic of the Panama Canal also came up during the hearing.
In December 2024, Trump said he would take back control of the canal—one of the world’s busiest shipping routes—if U.S. interests were not protected. He suggested that Beijing has exerted influence in the canal’s operations.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) asked if Rubio shared concerns about the canal’s neutrality.
The Panamanian government is “very friendly to the United States and very cooperative, and we want that to continue,” Rubio said. But he added that the concerns are real—and have existed for “at least a decade.”
He said the Chinese companies’ control of the port facilities at both ends of the canal was a central issue he discussed with Panama’s government during his 2017 trip there, and that military and security officials in Panama said then that Beijing could one day use the economic ties as a choke point during a conflict.
There are “no independent Chinese companies,” Rubio said. “They all exist because they’ve been identified as national champions. They’re supported by the Chinese government.”
Rubio further noted that the Chinese regime heavily invested in Panama around 2016 and 2017, but the money had strings attached. Panama broke off diplomatic ties with Taiwan in June 2017 and, in a few months, became the first Latin American country to endorse the Belt and Road Initiative, the CCP’s hallmark infrastructure project.
“This is not a joke. The Panama Canal issue is a very serious one,” he said.
Ukraine War Needs to End
Rubio faced questions about his view of the ongoing Russia–Ukraine war, and how the United States should support Ukraine going forward.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), the ranking member on the committee, noted Rubio had led U.S. efforts to support Ukraine early on in the war, but voted against a foreign aid package that allocated about $61 billion in Ukraine-related funding and opposed another measure to forgive past loans to Ukraine.
Rubio said his views of the war have changed as the fighting has reached a stalemate. He said that President Joe Biden’s administration had failed to articulate a clear end goal for the conflict.
When pressed to describe the limit of U.S. support for Ukraine, Rubio said the Biden administration’s answer often “sounded like: ‘However much it takes for however long it takes.’”
Trump has repeatedly pushed for negotiations to end the fighting.
Rubio assessed that Russia, Ukraine, and the United States would have to be willing to make concessions to reach this settlement. While broadly backing Trump’s push for talks, Rubio said he’s wary of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to maximize Ukrainian neutrality in the negotiations in order to buy time to re-arm his forces to eventually resume the fighting.
“That’s not an outcome I think any of us would favor,” Rubio said.
Cordial Atmosphere
Rubio had an easier time compared to other Trump Cabinet nominees who have faced Senate hearings so far.
The top lawmakers on the committee were two of many senators who signaled their approval.
“What you have seen is a nominee that is extremely well-prepared,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said. “We are used to seeing nominees that know a lot about a couple of things and know very little about virtually everything.”
With Rubio, Kaine said, one may “agree or disagree with the points he makes,” but “he is not having to thumb through a binder to figure out how to respond to a particular question.”
Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) noted that, despite their policy disagreements, the two have co-sponsored nearly 60 bills together.
Lee reminisced about the two joining the Senate and the committee simultaneously in 2011, both in their 30s as the youngest members.
“I’m going to make a bold prediction and say that you are likely to be confirmed,” he told Rubio.
Fellow Republican Sen. Ted Cruz similarly expressed confidence in the support Rubio will get.
The Texas senator said that Rubio will receive an “overwhelming bipartisan vote” and that he expects Rubio’s confirmation to happen as early as Jan. 20, when Trump takes office.
Energy Secretary nominee Chris Wright told key senators that, if confirmed, he would embrace an “all-of-the-above” approach to energy development, sustain funding for research programs, slash permitting timelines, encourage natural gas exports, and accelerate electric grid expansion.
During his nearly three-hour Jan. 15 nomination hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, President-elect Donald Trump’s selection to lead the Department of Energy (DOE) said that upon assuming office, he would “immediately” freeze more than $25 billion in loans being processed by the DOE’s Loan Program Office (LPO) in the wake of recent inspector general (IG) disclosures.
Wright, the MIT-educated CEO of Colorado-based Liberty Energy, among the nation’s largest fracking contractors, was less resolute when asked how he would respond as DOE chief to anticipated efforts by the Trump administration to “claw back” funding in the annual budgets and spending programs authorized over multiple years by Congress.
President-elect Donald Trump’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director nominee Russell Vought, who led OMB during Trump’s first term, supports executive “impoundment” of funds passed by Congress. Vought’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee began at 1 p.m. on Jan. 15.
“If the OMB director was to try to direct your department not to fund a program or an activity that Congress had expressly appropriated funding for, would you follow the law?” asked Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.).
“My mission, the only way I roll, would be to follow the laws and statutes of the United States of America,” Wright said.
Democrats questioned if he would safeguard allocations authorized by 2021’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and safeguard the Biden administration’s signature “green energy” bills in the 2022 CHIPS & Science Act and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) from any executive, administrative, or legislative efforts to unplug the funding streams.
The IRA rolls out 10 years of sustained tax credits, low-interest loans, and grant programs that, by some estimates, including one by the University of Pennsylvania, could top $1 trillion to subsidize investment in renewable energy generation, supply chains, job creation, advanced manufacturing, and electric grid expansion.
Asked how he would “protect clean energy provisions in the IRA,” Wright replied, “I would follow the statutes and laws of the United States.”
Despite the questioning and six pauses to silence climate activists, Wright’s interview with senators was friendly, with the Denver native garnering bipartisan plaudits as an energy renaissance man of sorts.
Wright was praised as a “breath of fresh air,” common sense businessman who is firmly anchored in fossil fuel development while also being a scientist and engineer who, during the hearing, repeatedly said climate change is real but holds that climate alarmism, as encoded into policy by the Biden administration, hampers the effectiveness of addressing the risks.
In introducing Wright to the panel, Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) said he and the nominee “disagree on a lot of things” and recalled how an “almost legendary” heated discussion between them disrupted at an Easter dinner a decade ago.
“Some people would be surprised I’m introducing him here, and yet, he’s a scientist who has invested his life around energy,” Hickenlooper said.
“He’s, indeed, an unrestrained enthusiast for fossil fuels in almost every regard, but he studied nuclear. His first years working were in solar. He has experience in wind. He is a practitioner and a key innovator around geothermal. He is a scientist who is open to discussion, and he is, again, a scientist who is a successful entrepreneur and has that ability to assess what is possible and what isn’t.”
Liberty Oilfield Services Inc. CEO Chris Wright on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Jan. 12, 2018. (Lucas Jackson/Reuters)
Shared ‘Passion For Energy’
Newly-seated Chair Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) said Liberty Energy’s Bettering Human Lives report offers “a pretty clear-headed perspective to the climate change dialog, which, I think, has been sorely missing” and “speaks volumes about [Wright’s] qualifications and about the expertise and know-how that you bring to the job.”
“You understand the energy sector and the many challenges that it faces, including and especially those from the government,” Lee said.
He noted a December 2024 interim inspector general report that “raised several pretty serious concerns” regarding potential conflicts of interest within DOE’s Loan Program Office with some contractors allegedly holding “troubling dual roles” as advisers and recipients.
Republicans have chafed at DOE’s Loan Program Office spending since the office was established in 2005. Boosted by $37 billion in IRA loan authorizations for clean energy projects, about $25 billion remains “unfinalized” and is being eyed for clawbacks or defunding.
“If you’re confirmed, will you commit to following the inspector general’s recommendation and suspend the issuance of new loans until the loan program office’s compliance with conflicts of interest regulations and contractual obligations is guaranteed?” Lee asked.
Wright responded, “I will immediately.”
Lee said Wright is ideally suited to “bring balance back” in refocusing DOE “on what ought to be its core mission, ensuring energy security, driving innovation, and lowering costs for American families” at a critical juncture for the nation’s economy and security.
“American energy demand is growing, growing, growing because of our growth; growing because of the ways in which we use energy, with data centers and artificial intelligence making a dent and about to make a much bigger dent,” Lee said. “We need to energize our economy. It sounds like you grasp that fully and are ready to take that challenge on.”
Wright—an investor in Fervo Energy, a Texas “green energy” company that uses fracking technologies to develop geothermal resources—while celebrating his 60th birthday on Jan. 15, said he would be a steady advocate and applicator of Trump’s energy policies.
“We share a passion for energy, and the reason I sit in front of you today is because President-elect Trump shares a passion for energy and an instinctual understanding that energy is not a sector of the economy—it’s the sector of the economy that enables everything else we do,” he said.
Wright said he would administer an energy policy that safeguards “American quality of life, American economic strength, our geopolitical power, and what the possibilities are for the future, how we can make our children and grandchildren’s lives so much better than ours.”
Sen. Jim Justice (R-W.V.), former governor of West Virginia, in his first hearing succeeding the retired Sen. Joe Manchin (I-W.V.), said the next DOE chief must “solve the riddle” of making “all of the above” energy accessible and affordable to homes, businesses, and industry where they are and when they need it.
“Are you in a position of thinking about, of embracing, all energy forms? Of solving the whole riddle?” Justice asked.
Wright said in response, “We want energy from all sources.
“We can add energy from all sources to our pile of affordable, reliable, secure American energy.”
Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi fielded questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee on Jan. 15 as part of her confirmation process to serve as the next attorney general of the United States.
During the hearing, both sides of the aisle focused on concerns about the weaponization of the Department of Justice (DOJ), which Bondi pledged not to engage in.
Democrats tended to focus on Bondi’s ties with President-elect Donald Trump and her willingness to maintain the DOJ’s independence from the White House. She also encountered questions about illegal immigration, national security, and FISA warrants.
While the Senate is expected to confirm Bondi, here are some of the main topics addressed during the hearing:
Weaponization of DOJ
Bondi repeatedly expressed opposition to what has been described as the weaponization of the DOJ and received multiple questions raising concern about the department’s ability to act independently of political influence.
At the beginning of the hearing, committee ranking member Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told Bondi that her competence and experience weren’t in question, but rather her “ability to say no” to Trump.
Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and John Kennedy (R-La.) criticized the Biden administration’s DOJ for its prosecution of Trump by former special counsel Jack Smith.
Kennedy said that deciding to prosecute Trump “broke the seal.” He warned that America was headed down a road in which prosecutors would seek to prosecute President Joe Biden’s inner circle for conspiring to conceal his mental decline.
“You’ve got to fix it,” Kennedy told Bondi.
Bondi has received attention for comments she made on Fox News in 2023 when she said: “When Republicans take back the White House ... the Department of Justice, the prosecutors will be prosecuted—the bad ones. The investigators will be investigated.”
Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) asked Bondi whether that would include Smith, Attorney General Merrick Garland, or former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who led the House Jan. 6 Committee.
“No one has been prejudged, nor will anyone be prejudged if I am confirmed,” Bondi responded.
She later told Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) that “no one will be prosecuted [or] investigated because they are a political opponent.”
“That’s what we’ve seen for the last four years in this administration,” she said.
Bondi also touched on concerns about the DOJ investigating Catholics and parents who attended or spoke at school board meetings.
“Going after parents at a school board meeting has got to stop,” she said.
She told Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) she would look into an FBI memo about traditionalist Catholics.
Surveillance
As an example of a “bad lawyer” within the DOJ, Bondi offered former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith, who admitted to fabricating evidence against Trump during the investigation into alleged Russian collusion—specifically an email connected to a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant application.
Referring to that investigation, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) asked Bondi, “When it comes to Crossfire Hurricane, are those days over if you’re attorney general?”
Crossfire Hurricane was the code name for an FBI investigation into links between Trump’s 2016 campaign and the Russian government that was later found to be without basis.
“Absolutely,” she responded.
Trump has called for reforming FISA courts as part of his plan to “dismantle the deep state.”
Bondi told Graham she would look at reauthorization, saying FISA is “a very important tool.”
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) expressed concern about the federal government intercepting Americans’ conversations without a warrant.
Bondi told Lee she agreed with him that Americans shouldn’t face searches without some kind of showing of probable cause.
Trump and the 2020 Presidential Election
Bondi, who served as a Trump 2020 campaign adviser, was asked by multiple senators whether Trump won the 2020 presidential election. Her responses included stating that Biden is the current president and that there was a peaceful transfer of power.
“I accept the results. I accept, of course, that Joe Biden is President of the United States,” she told Durbin. “But what I can tell you is what I saw firsthand when I went to Pennsylvania as an advocate for the campaign.”
She added that she “saw many things” and that “no one from either side of the aisle should want there to be any issues with election integrity.”
When Hirono spoke, she accused Bondi of being unable to say who won the 2020 presidential election. Bondi gestured toward the mic but didn’t offer any words in response.
“It’s disturbing that you can’t give voice to that fact,” Hirono said.
Bondi told Hirono before that exchange that Biden was the president.
Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) pressed Bondi multiple times for a yes or no answer on whether she had evidence of election fraud or irregularities in the 2020 election.
Bondi didn’t provide a yes or no answer but attempted to give statements multiple times before being interrupted by Padilla.
Padilla also asked Bondi whether she would retract her previous statement that Trump won Pennsylvania in 2020.
While responding, Bondi said she traveled to Pennsylvania but didn’t say whether she would retract her statement—prompting Padilla to demand a yes or no answer.
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) asked Bondi whether she could tell Trump that he lost the 2020 election.
She responded, “What I can tell you is I will never play politics, you’re trying to engage me in a gotcha.”
Kash Patel
Multiple senators asked Bondi about Kash Patel, Trump’s nominee to lead the FBI, saying he had a purported enemies list. They seemed to be referring to a group of so-called deep state members Patel listed in his book “Government Gangsters.”
Bondi said she wasn’t familiar with the comments but clarified that he would serve under her and follow the rule of law as her subordinate.
“There will never be an enemies list within the Department of Justice,” she told Whitehouse.
Bondi also told Whitehouse that she believed Patel was “the right person at this time for this job” while underscoring his experience as an attorney and within the intelligence community.
Patel, on Jan. 15, reposted on social media a video of Bondi praising him.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), citing the so-called enemies list, told Bondi that she should be able to say that Patel shouldn’t be FBI director.
Jan. 6 Pardons
As attorney general, Bondi will be able to advise Trump on how he could exercise his pardon power. In recent months, questions have arisen as to whether Trump will pardon many individuals charged in connection to the U.S. Capitol breach on Jan. 6, 2021.
Blumenthal told Bondi that as the people’s lawyer, she would have to be able to say that “January 6th insurrectionists who committed violence shouldn’t be pardoned.”
Durbin asked about pardoning defendants convicted of violent assaults on police officers.
In response, Bondi said: “I have not seen any of those files. ... If confirmed and if asked to advise the president, I will look at each and every file.”
She added that she condemned “any violence” against a law enforcement officer.
Bondi also told Durbin she would advise on a “case by case basis.”
When asked by Schiff, she declined to say whether she would caution Trump against a blanket pardon.
“I have not looked at any of those files,” she said as part of her answer.
Her comments were made days after Vice President-elect JD Vance said violent Jan. 6 offenders should not receive pardons.
Immigration
During the hearing, Bondi fielded multiple questions from Democrats and Republicans about immigration. Graham, for example, asked about the illegal immigrant who was convicted of killing Georgia nursing student Laken Riley.
Bondi said Americans paid the price for illegal immigrant criminals entering the country and indicated Riley’s killer shouldn’t have been in the United States.
During her exchange with Padilla, he pressed her on birthright citizenship, which is the idea that the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment grants citizenship to all children born in the United States, including those born to illegal immigrant parents.
When Padilla asked Bondi what the citizenship clause said, she responded, “I’m not here to do your homework and study for you.”
Trump has vowed to end birthright citizenship, potentially setting up a future Supreme Court case.
Padilla went on to ask whether Bondi would defend birthright citizenship, to which she said she would study the issue. In response, Padilla seemed incredulous and stated that her need to study the 14th Amendment didn’t help him boost his confidence in her ability to serve as attorney general.
Hirono also asked Bondi about Trump’s 2023 comment about illegal immigrants “poisoning the blood of our country.”
While Bondi said she wasn’t aware of those remarks, she later said that “we are a nation made up of immigrants.”
“Do I believe immigrants are poisoning our country? No,” she said.
Former Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.) has vowed to prioritize safety at the Department of Transportation, saying it would remain the top priority with aviation if he is confirmed by the Senate to lead the agency.
Duffy opened with those promises during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on Jan. 15. Throughout questioning from senators of both parties, Duffy said he endorses the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) continuing its oversight of Boeing, supports continued infrastructure funding, and wants full transparency on the mystery drones reported over multiple U.S. states for the past several months.
The hearing, led by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), was cordial. Both Republican and Democratic senators expressed their fondness for Duffy and his vision of prioritizing safety with the Transportation Department.
Duffy previously served Wisconsin’s Seventh Congressional District from 2011 to 2019.
Safety-Focused Transportation Department
In his opening remarks, Duffy repeatedly emphasized safety. Referencing the tens of thousands of U.S. citizens who die in roadway accidents every year, he said the situation “hits close to home” because his wife survived a head-on car crash that “profoundly reshaped her life.”
“If confirmed, I will prioritize road safety and assuring lives and families aren’t forever changed by preventable accidents,” he said.
“In aviation, safety will remain its top priority. America needs more air traffic controllers.”
Duffy said the Transportation Department needs the “best and the brightest air traffic controllers” and that he would work with the FAA to “restore global confidence in Boeing” and to ensure that U.S. skies are safe.
“Transportation is an extraordinary new era,” he said. “We’re in a global race to out-innovate and out-compete the rest of the world.”
If confirmed, the Transportation Department would “craft clear regulations” that would balance safety innovation and cutting-edge technology, but always with a focus on safety, according to Duffy.
He also said he supports the FAA’s oversight of Boeing, which increased following the deadly 737 MAX 8 crashes and the Alaska Airlines door panel incident.
“Boeing is a national security issue,” Duffy said. “Boeing is the largest exporter of American product. ... They need tough love.”
He said he would work with the FAA to ensure that Boeing implements its safety plan, which the agency mandated in 2024.
“I [would] like to talk to the safety experts at the FAA to see where we’re at and where we need to go to make sure we continue to advance safe airplanes being built at Boeing and exported around the world,” Duffy said.
He also promised to work with the FAA to make sure it continues appropriate oversight of the airplane manufacturer.
Transparency on Mystery Drones
Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.), who was just sworn in this month, asked Duffy about the mystery drone sightings that began over his home state several months ago. Kim suggested that the drones might create safety issues with flight space, especially at night.
He asked Duffy if he agrees that the FAA should do more to distinguish legitimate from illegitimate drone usage, and if he’s willing to work with the committee to ensure that.
“I 100 percent agree with you, senator,” Duffy said, noting that he had seen a few himself.
“We need transparency,” he said. “What’s happening, who’s flying, and so [on].”
Duffy also said the FAA needs to improve its rulemaking on drone regulations instead of relying on a patchwork of laws that incentivizes manufacturers to innovate overseas, where the laws may be clearer.
“We have to have clear rules to beyond visual line of sight and make sure that this innovation continues to happen here,” he said. “It has [the] potential of revolutionizing so many different things in the way our economy works; let’s make sure it happens here.”
Electric Vehicle Policy Changes
Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) asked Duffy if he had any ideas for how to shore up the Highway Trust Fund amid the loss of revenue from electric vehicle drivers who don’t pay gasoline taxes, which support the fund.
“They should pay for [the] use of our roads; how to do that, I think, is a little more challenging,” he said.
As for ways to ensure that the fund continues increasing at pace with the nation’s growth of commerce, Duffy said there are three immediate options: First, the Transportation Department could raise the gas tax, which he does not support; second, the government could increase tolling; third, it could use a mile-driven formula for those who aren’t paying gasoline taxes.
“My concern with that, though, is the privacy around the American citizens,” he said. “So I think that’s a conversation that will fall within the purview of this committee.
“We could be far more efficient with our dollars. We could streamline the approach and get dollars into projects quicker.”
As for the Biden administration’s efforts to offer tax credits to incentivize the production of electric vehicles over internal combustion engine vehicles, Duffy said he is in favor of a “robust marketplace” that supports all vehicle options.
“We shouldn’t be forced to buy cars that Washington wants. We should go buy the cars that we want,” he said.
“I think there’s room in this space for electric vehicles and gas-powered vehicles, and [it] might depend on your priorities, the places that you live, the temperatures of where you live. But I want to see a robust marketplace.”
However, Duffy committed to supporting the transportation infrastructure funding kickstarted by the Biden administration.
“President Trump, he’s a builder,” he said. “He wants to invest in rebuilding our nation’s crumbling infrastructure.
“If confirmed, I will work to reduce the red tape that slows critical infrastructure projects, ensuring funds are spent efficiently [and] we use the tax dollar well.”
Famous for being an alumnus of several MTV reality television shows, Duffy—also a lawyer—was first appointed by then-Wisconsin Gov. Scott McCallum to be Ashland County’s district attorney in 2002, staying in office until 2010.
After Duffy resigned from Congress in 2019 to care for his baby daughter, who was born with Down syndrome and a heart defect, he went on to co-host a Fox Business program.
