By The American Tribune | Created at 2025-01-20 10:54:42 | Updated at 2025-01-20 13:46:42
3 hours ago
President-elect Donald Trump’s treasury secretary pick, Scott Bessent, recently set the record straight during his confirmation hearing when Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) suggested that the United States was in a “clean energy race” with China. Offering a rebuttal to this statement, Bessent claimed China was merely focused on energy security, not necessarily from renewable sources, while it continues to build facilities based around fossil fuels.
Broaching the topic, Sen. Wydon said, “Oh, one last question, and that is about the legislation that was written in this room that was the biggest transformation on clean energy in American history. That is our package that basically said the tax code as it relates to energy is a broken-down nest. And we basically said we’re gonna have a technology-neutral system. The more you reduce carbon, the bigger your tax savings.”
Noting that Trump is seeking to reverse much of the green energy agenda, Wydon pressed Bessent as to whether he would support this. “Now there is a big effort in the Trump administration to reverse it. I think that’s going to be bad for the economy. but it is going to be damn good for China, because we are in an arms race and clean energy with them. Are you going to be on the side of people who want to unravel this?” he pressed Bessent.
Offering a rebuttal to Wydon’s remarks, Bessent began, “The Senator Wydon, just so we can frame this for everyone in the room, China will build 100 new coal plants this year. There is not a clean energy race. There is an energy race. China will build 10 nuclear plants this year that is not solar. I am in favor of more nuclear plants.”
Noting the fiscal issues at hand, he continued, “And I would note that the IRA, as scored by the CDO, is wildly out of control in terms of spending on the upside.” However, Wyden pointed out that nuclear energy was included in the legislation being discussed. “Well, first of all, the clean energy package does protect nuclear because members on both sides of the aisle in this room wanted it to be that way,” he said.
Wyden also claimed that the United States is at a greater level of energy independence than ever. “But if you’re going to talk about fossils, the United States has achieved a greater level of energy security than we’ve had in generations. Oil and gas production is at record highs.” Getting back to the issue of an arms race, the Democratic senator said, “And it’s not just that. It’s about clean energy, and I’m very troubled by your position, denying that we’re in an armed race with China on clean energy, because we definitely are.”
Throughout his hearing, Bessent addressed a number of hot-button issues, such as the fiscal issues the United States government faces. He maintained that the country does not have an issue with collecting tax revenue, but spends wildly out of control in relation to GDP. Bessent gave a dire warning about the unprecedented deficit spending.
Watch the treasury secretary below:
Note: The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.
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