Treasury Secretary Wishes To Know, What Is This Math Of Which You Speak?

[Zorro]

He's not a fan.

Normally we would rather dunk our heads into a massively clogged fraternity house toilet than listen to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent talk about literally anything. Finance? No. Trade? No. The right wine pairing for sauteed sea bass? No. The proper way to tie a Windsor knot? Lord no.

We don’t even want to listen to him talk about stuff we care about, like beer or when the Red Sox should call up Marcelo Mayer.

But it was at least a little interesting to watch Bessent being interviewed by Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer Friday morning. Not because Hemmer is a great interviewer – we have socks that have more personality – but because he asked Bessent a direct question about the House budget bill blowing out the national debt that Republicans like to claim is going to eat all our grandchildren, and you could practically see Bessent’s brain scrambling to shove soothing words to his mouth.

HEMMER: You mentioned economic growth there during your comment there. This bill adds trillions to our debt. How is that acceptable to this administration?

BESSENT: Well, a-again, uh (clears throat) you’re referring to the CBO scoring, I believe, which is ten-year scoring, and it’s DC-style scoring. (almost cracks smug grin so he looks like the Cheshire Cat with expensive hair plugs)

The other name for “DC-style scoring” is math. The Congressional Budget Office is doing that sneaky Swamp trick known as math.

Yes, the CBO uses a ten-year window when scoring budget bills because the Senate’s Byrd Rule limits the amount that a bill being passed through reconciliation can add onto the national debt. Bessent, shockingly, never explains why this is bad, and they should be scoring with ... what, an infinity-year window?

https://www.wonkette.com/p/treasury-secretary-wishes-to-know