Taxes and tariffs took center stage Thursday at the Senate Finance Committee’s confirmation hearing for President-elect Donald Trump’s intended Treasury secretary nominee, Scott Bessent. Republicans and Democrats sparred over who would benefit most from extending more than $4 trillion in tax cuts enacted during the first Trump administration.

Scott Bessent, a South Carolina billionaire hedge fund manager, wasted no time getting to the crux of his confirmation hearing: the expiring Trump tax cuts. “This is the single most important economic issue of the day,” Bessent told the committee.

Tariffs, tax policy and budget deficits dominated a confirmation hearing for Scott Bessent, the fund manager President-elect Donald Trump picked to run the Treasury Department. Bessent, who has spent his career in the private sector,