Hands Off The Fed, Elizabeth Warren Tells Trump Pick

The soon-to-be top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee cautioned Scott Bessent, Donald Trump’s pick to be the next treasury secretary, to respect the Federal Reserve’s policy independence.

“I have been a fierce critic of Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s extreme interest rate hikes and lack of transparency, but I have never questioned that it is his job to make those decisions. It would be a serious error for the Trump administration to interfere with the Fed’s independence, as Mr. Bessent has suggested,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said in a statement Monday.

Warren will succeed Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) as the leader of the Democrats on the panel in the new Congress that will be seated in early January. Unlike Brown, she’ll be in the minority in the new Congress, which will see Republicans hold 53 seats.

Trump announced Bessent as his pick to be treasury secretary Friday night, calling him in a social media post “one of the World’s foremost International Investors and Geopolitical and Economic Strategists.”

Bessent is the founder of a hedge fund named Key Square Capital and advised Trump on economic policy during his presidential campaign. He started his hedge fund in 2015 after previously working for Soros Fund Management, the asset manager for billionaire investor and activist George Soros’ Open Society Foundations.

Bessent raised eyebrows in October when he said Trump should nominate a replacement for Powell well ahead of the 2026 end of Powell’s term as chairman of the central bank. That “shadow” Fed chair would have the attention of financial markets even before he or she were confirmed, which would rob the Fed chairman of one of the traditional powers of the office, being able to jawbone markets through public comments.

Since 1951, monetary policy ― setting interest rates and influencing the availability of credit ― has been acknowledged as the domain of the central bank, while managing the government’s debt has been the Treasury’s job. Starting with Bill Clinton, most recent presidents also have taken a publicly hands-off stance toward the Fed. In turn, the bank’s inflation-fighting credibility has largely rested in its own hands, unlike central banks in many developing countries.

Warren said Bessent’s expertise was “helping rich investors make more money, not cutting costs for families squeezed by corporate profiteering,” but she stopped short of saying she would vote against his nomination.

“I do not know if Mr. Bessent will transfer his loyalty from Wall Street investors to America’s workers, but I am willing to work with anyone to advance the interests of working families,” she said.

“I look forward to reviewing the treasury secretary nominee’s record and meeting with him ahead of his confirmation hearing.”