During a Senate Finance Committee hearing on June 3, 2026, Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA) walked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent through a simple exercise of asking him to grade the economy the same way ordinary Americans already have. But the gap between Bessent’s answer and reality couldn’t have been wider.
Warnock opened with a callback, noting that President Donald Trump’s own Fed nominee had dodged the same question the month before.
“President Trump has said that his grade of the economy — his words — is a quote, plus plus plus plus plus,” Warnock said. “He said this before he sent energy and gas prices soaring with this illegal war in Iran, a war that’s costing taxpayers billions of dollars …a billion or more per day …turbocharging inflation.”
When Warnock put the same question to Bessent, the Treasury Secretary reached for superlatives.
“I think we have the makings of one of the strongest economies in history,” Bessent replied.
Warnock wasn’t buying it.
“Americans give the Trump economy a failing grade. You and I can disagree, but this is not about us. They give the economy a failing grade because they can’t afford anything.”
He then turned to the long game, pointing out that under Trump’s economic policies, the national debt had exceeded GDP for the first time since World War Two, and that the so-called Big Ugly bill would pile nearly $5 trillion more on top of that.
“So, so and sir, sir, I’m asking you a basic question. Do you think that going into debt to extend billionaire tax cuts was a good investment? Yes or no?” Warnock asked.
Bessent pushed back on the framing, dismissing the findings as the work of “Biden hacks.”
“I disagree with the categorization of billionaire tax cuts when in fact most of the tax cuts went to working Americans,” he said before taking another shot at the source. “The Yale Budget Lab is a bunch of Biden hacks.”
Warnock didn’t miss a beat.
“You should talk to the people in Georgia. Whatever tax relief you think you gave them was more than taken up by these tariffs. According to the Yale Budget Lab, the administration’s tariffs cost families three times as much as they got back in tax cuts.”
When Warnock pressed Bessent on whether the Iran war that’s costing tens of billions and counting was still worth it, Bessent deflected to Obama-era Iran policy. Warnock shut it down immediately.
“President Obama left office in 2016.”
He closed by bringing it back to where it started — the people of Georgia, the closed Strait of Hormuz, and a war with no end in sight.
“You should tell the people in Georgia that this war is a good idea,” Warnock said. “I think they’ll disagree.”
Bessent had no answer for that. He rarely does. Watch full clip here.
