Bernie Sanders’ Brutal Question for Scott Bessent — And He Never Answered

[0:00] do come on you're smarter than that this is the top two tenths of one percent this is not a mom [0:05] and pop store these are multi-billionaires and the savings go to their kids after they pass away [0:11] this is nothing more than a gift to billionaires in this country well sir that's just not correct [0:18] because the the top 10 percent paid a bigger share of taxes after i'm talking about one [0:24] provision in this i don't want to argue with you about taxes in general one provision few [0:29] hundred families 235 billion dollars in tax what exploded in this hearing was bigger than one [0:34] angry exchange it was a collision between two completely different stories about the american [0:39] economy on one side treasury secretary scott besant arrived to sell trump's tax and budget agenda [0:46] as a plan for growth investment and main street prosperity on the other bernie sanders and [0:53] elizabeth warren framed it as something far more brutal a bill that protects concentrated wealth [0:59] while pushing millions closer to medical and financial insecurity and sanders opened with [1:04] the most politically lethal question in the room in an administration already packed with extreme wealth [1:11] why does this bill seem to ask ordinary americans to sacrifice while the richest families cash in [1:18] uh help me out here my understanding is the trump administration has i think 13 billionaires [1:24] uh in office right now leading government agencies is that about right do you think i i have no idea [1:30] senator i think that's what the number is do you think it's a coincidence given the large number of [1:36] billionaires in the trump administration that this particular piece of legislation would provide 235 billion [1:43] dollars in tax breaks to the top two tenths of one percent by expanding the exemptions in the estate tax [1:53] senator i will tell you that when the 2017 tax cuts and job act passed my tax rate went up well i don't [2:01] know your exact situation but i can tell you tell me about how many people do you think are in the top [2:08] two tenths of one percent sorry number of people in the top two tenths of one percent who would benefit [2:14] from this particular 235 billion dollar tax break well are the top i know the top 10 percent is now [2:23] now paying seven percent that's not the question my question is why do you think at a time of [2:30] unprecedented income and wealth inequality when people like yourself economically have never ever had [2:37] it so good why do you think it's a good idea to cut medicaid for low income and working class people by [2:43] 700 billion dollars to give 235 billion dollars in tax breaks to the very very very richest people in [2:51] this country perhaps a few hundred families please justify that and tell me about that well senator i i [2:56] don't know but the democrats had the trifecta and there was no tax increase or wealth tax on [3:02] billionaires you choose i'm not talking about a tax you you chose not that's the best thing i am not [3:06] talking about a wealth tax explain a few hundred of the wealthiest families in this country 235 billion [3:15] dollar tax break explain to the american people why you think that's a great idea i think that this [3:22] will increase small businesses substantially that most small businesses they are zero to do come on you're [3:32] smarter than that this is the top two tenths of one percent this is not a mom-and-pop store these are [3:37] multi-billionaires and the savings go to their kids after they pass away this is nothing more than a gift [3:45] to billionaires in this country well sir that's just not correct because the the top 10 percent paid [3:52] a bigger share of taxes after i'm talking about one provision in this i don't want to argue with you [3:57] about taxes in general one provision few hundred families 235 billion dollars in tax breaks you can't [4:04] justify that because morally it is totally unjustifiable let me ask another question if you guys [4:10] want to cut a trillion dollars in medicaid and the affordable care act the estimate from cbo i believe [4:18] is that over 15 million people lose their health insurance uh yale university university of pennsylvania [4:24] estimated that when you throw that many low-income and working-class people off of health care some [4:31] 50 000 people a year will die tell me why you think it's a good idea to give tax breaks to billionaires [4:40] and allow 50 000 low-income and working-class people to die unnecessarily uh senator first of all [4:46] that's overstated by 5.1 million that that is not attributed to this bill uh is simply it's a [4:53] combination that's true you all had a scheduled expiration of obamacare subsidies and you did [5:00] not extend that when you were in charge 5.1 million 1.4 million illegal aliens on medicaid all right [5:08] and there are work requirements and our goal is to get more money to children do you know others really [5:17] your goal is to get more money to children yeah and working people really come on uh do you know how many [5:24] people and i was surprised to hear this i don't know if you know it or not how many people lose their [5:28] jobs every year quit get fired or whatever you have any idea well there's there's something called [5:33] the quits rate and so when when the job market is strong more people quit but yeah i was surprised [5:39] that i just researched this i don't know you happen to know i i don't know the number i was surprised [5:44] would it be shocking to you it was to me 20 million people leave their jobs a year doesn't shock you [5:49] right that's a big labor force right so somebody leaves the job maybe they move maybe something [5:55] happens in their lives right we have a lot of transition in the labor market correct maybe [5:59] they get a better job right exactly maybe they do or maybe they have to stay home their wife gets sick [6:05] whatever we don't know but 20 million people lose their jobs in the given year leave their jobs in [6:11] a given year are those people lazy sanders's attack lands because he isn't arguing over abstract ideology [6:19] he narrows the fight to one provision the estate tax in the hearing he calls it a 235 billion dollar [6:27] tax break for a tiny sliver at the top outside analysts using the house passed bill put that [6:34] estate tax expansion in roughly the same ballpark estimating about 211 billion to 212 billion dollars [6:41] through 2034. the center on budget and policy priorities says the bill would let a wealthy couple [6:47] pass 30 million dollars tax free to heirs and notes only about one in one thousand estates are rich [6:54] enough to owe estate tax at all in other words sanders's real argument is that this is not about [7:00] neighborhood small businesses it is about inherited wealth at the very top what happens when i leave [7:06] my job and maybe i have to move to another state to take care of my ill mother and i desperately need [7:12] medicaid am i too lazy now to be able to get medicaid i think that's a mischaracterization of the work [7:17] requirement really well i'm not quite so sure uh it is um i don't okay well thank you very much mr [7:27] chairman i want to ask about the republican big beautiful bill which will knock about 16 million [7:33] people off their health care coverage and cut programs that keep groceries cheaper for millions of [7:40] families in order to try to pay for about four trillion dollars in tax giveaways that are mostly going [7:46] to be sucked up by millionaires billionaires and wealthy corporations so mr bassin uh secretary [7:53] bassin i'd like to start with a very simple question will this bill increase or decrease the deficit [8:04] they're varying uh scoring on that you're the secretary of the treasury so i'm asking you [8:11] what is your view will this bill increase or decrease the deficit it is my view that over the 10-year [8:18] window it will decrease you know do you have anybody who agrees with you on yes yes ma'am let me ask my [8:27] question okay every credible independent expert agrees that trump and the republicans big beautiful bill [8:37] would add trillions of dollars to the national debt and would not even come close to paying for itself [8:43] the non-partisan congressional budget office the pen wharton budget model and the yale budget lab [8:51] all agree on this and they're looking at 10-year windows thank you so do the conservative tax foundation [8:57] and committee for responsible federal budget conservative groups even elon musk and the wall street journal [9:05] are criticizing the bill for ballooning the national debt the only people who are saying publicly [9:13] that it's not going to add to the national debt are you donald trump the republicans in congress [9:21] do you have an independent group that has put forward numbers that disagrees with all of these [9:27] conservative groups and disagrees with the wall street journal on this well senator and interesting to [9:32] see you aligned with elon musk uh but um if i you're no more shocked than i am [9:45] if we want to take the full congressional congressional budget scoring they predict and i i don't agree [9:52] with their methodology they predict a 2.4 trillion deficit but okay so the answer to the question is yes [9:59] no no but may i finish they include that but they've also scored 2.8 trillion in tariff income [10:06] so even even in washington dc math in washington dc math that is a 400 billion surplus okay so let me [10:13] make sure i understand this bill you admit will increase the deficit by 2.4 trillion dollars but you [10:21] think there will be another bill in another set of agreements that somehow materialize haven't materialized [10:28] so far don't have any statutory authority but that will make up the difference so the answer to the [10:34] original question will this bill increase or decrease the deficit i think you just said it will [10:40] increase this bill increases the no i want to use all the all the cbo scoring and you can't take one [10:48] without the other i don't agree with the cbo one is the law that we are scoring the bill that is in front of [10:55] us we don't have a tariff bill in front of us to score mr secretary let me go on to the second [11:00] question you have said that government spending is quote out of control you have also called government [11:07] spending quote unsustainable in fact in the name of physical responsibility you're working with the [11:13] republicans on this big beautiful bill to pass the biggest cuts to medicaid and the affordable care [11:19] act in american history so mr secretary help me understand here why is the national debt so very [11:27] important that you're trying to kick 16 million people off their health insurance but increasing [11:34] the national debt doesn't seem to matter if you're cutting taxes for billionaires and billionaire [11:40] corporations well first of all a huge portion of this goes to family-owned businesses that are [11:48] pass-through entities that are below that level senator and i am sure you share my goals of main [11:55] street prosperity you know i'm glad to do tax cuts for people of modest means the question i'm asking [12:01] is why does the deficit not matter to you we're talking about knocking 16 million people off their [12:07] health care but it matters not it does matter to you if we're knocking people off their health care but [12:13] not well first of all that figure is overstated by 5.1 million that is amount not attributed [12:18] to provisions in this bill it is simply well first of all let's set that straight work requirements [12:28] account for eight million of cbo's claim number again we're creating an economy that promotes [12:34] and reward so you don't want to answer the question senator i am answering no you're not and what i want [12:41] is for medicaid to be used the for mothers and children as it was meant not for 1.4 million illegal [12:47] aliens not for able-bodied people medicaid is not used for people who are not documented mr chairman i [12:54] just want to say here the part that troubles me the most is that the secretary is deeply worried about [13:01] the uh about the deficit and is willing to knock 16 million or he says merely 11 million people off their [13:09] health care matters so much but it doesn't matter so much if you're cutting taxes for billionaires [13:15] then it's okay to run up a big deficit i think that's wrong in the end this hearing was not [13:19] memorable because bernie sanders yelled the loudest or because elizabeth warren asked the sharpest question [13:26] it matters because it captured in a few brutal minutes the real fight over trump era economics in plain [13:31] english sanders asked why working families should lose health security while ultra wealthy heirs get another [13:37] tax break warren asked why debt suddenly stops mattering when the beneficiaries are billionaires [13:43] and giant corporations besant offered the administration's answer growth wages manufacturing [13:50] and a stronger economy but the reason this footage keeps circulating is that the simplest questions [13:56] were also the hardest ones to answer cleanly who pays who benefits and when the numbers are stripped [14:03] away whose side is this bill actually on