Republicans Push Back on Double-Duty for Bessent

“Republicans like Scott Bessent as Treasury secretary, and they’d support him as chair of the Federal Reserve. Just maybe not at the same time,” Semafor reports.

“As President Donald Trump criticized current Fed Chair Jerome Powell yet again on Tuesday for not cutting interest rates, Republicans cautioned the president to take his time before announcing who could replace Powell next year — whether that’s Bessent or someone else.”

“Most crucially for the administration, though, two senior GOP senators on key fiscal committees aired worries about one person holding both the Treasury job and the Fed chairmanship. That idea, which the White House dismissed after Bloomberg reported this month that Trump’s advisers had discussed it with him, would break nearly a century of precedent and spark questions about its effect on the central bank’s independence.”

New York Times: Bessent steps up criticism of Fed as auditions for Chair.