At a House Ways and Means Committee hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) questioned Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent about how he stands to gain if the Big Beautiful Bill passes.
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00:00Thank you, Mr. Doggett.
00:02If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, certainly I can understand, Mr. Secretary,
00:06why you and the members of the Trump cabinet are so enthusiastic about this beautiful bill.
00:12It gives so much to those at the top, and of course Trump appointees are not just in the top 1%,
00:19but the top 1,000th of 1%.
00:22I applaud your personal success, but isn't it true that for you and for a number of cabinet members
00:31and other Trump appointees, simply not having your taxes restored to the level that existed
00:36when President Bush and President Obama were in office at 39.6% will provide you very substantial personal benefit?
00:46Yes or no?
00:48That is not a yes or no question, sir.
00:51All right, if you can't answer it.
00:52As many people have different tax arrangements.
00:57Reclaiming my time, please, sir.
00:58And it is shown that.
01:00Mr. Chairman, I don't want my time taken if the witness will not yield.
01:06I would recommend, Mr. Doggett, that if you asked a question, at least allow them to answer it.
01:10You can recommend it, but you're taking my time from him answering the questions.
01:14Well, your time is moving, so use it.
01:15Let me say I understand you can't answer that with a yes or no.
01:18I'm concerned about the weaponization of the Internal Revenue Tax Code by the President and your role in it.
01:26Section 7217 of the Internal Revenue Code makes it unlawful for the President and his partners like you requesting IRS to conduct or terminate an audit or other investigation or a particular taxpayer.
01:38Section 6103, as you're familiar, protects taxpayer privacy.
01:43Section 7217 of thedepersonal Revenue Tax C put on the audit.
01:45Section 7217 of the United States, Attorney General, and the U.S. Agency.
01:48Should we be moving forward?
01:49Section 8217 of the United States, Attorney General, and the U.S. Agency.
01:51Section 119251.
01:51Section 8233 of the United States, Attorney General, and the U.S. Department of Defense.
01:53Section 119231 of the U.S. Agency.
01:53It's what they deserve.
01:55And you've been part of the we when you said on May 23rd that you publicly declared that
02:02you were moving forward on this, that there were a substantial number of rules that Harvard
02:08may have violated.
02:10Can you tell me, yes or no, whether you can pledge to avoid any interference in IRS audits
02:16or investigations of particular taxpayers?
02:19And if you can't answer that yes or no, just say so, and then I'll move on to the next
02:22question.
02:23That is without question that I will follow the law.
02:26All right, sir.
02:28Can you tell us whether, yes or no, you can report back to this committee in 30 days after
02:34investigating to assure us that there have not been any requests by the president, any
02:39political appointee, or any family member of the president to direct or influence the audit
02:45or termination of an audit or investigation of any taxpayer or entity?
02:50Well, Congressman, as you said, this is all private matters, so it would be out of line
02:59for me to report back on any of this.
03:01All I ask...
03:02But I can assure you that I will follow the law and all proper procedures.
03:09I'm just asking you whether you can report back in 30 days whether there has been any
03:13attempt, I'm not asking for the specifics of who was involved by the president or any
03:18of the other people I mentioned, to influence or direct any audit or investigation of a taxpayer.
03:24Can you do that, sir?
03:25Well, I can report right here.
03:27I am not in the habit of repeating private conversations, but the president and I have never had a conversation
03:33on Harvard's tax status, so I will report that right here.
03:37We don't need 30 days.
03:38I'm not asking just about Harvard.
03:39We don't need 30 days.
03:40If they can pick on Harvard, they can pick on anyone, and I'm just asking for a simple
03:43report on whether there have been any efforts to that, whether from the president or one
03:47of his associates, and it would seem to me that would be easy to do.
03:52But let me move also to the question of privacy as it relates to data sharing.
03:56Do you agree that there is no authorization for the IRS to share tax data broadly with
04:02Doge or federal agencies for the general purpose of data consolidation?
04:08Section 6103 protects taxpayers' information.
04:15We have followed all proper procedures, including in terms of the data sharing with the Department
04:24of Homeland Security.
04:26We are allowed to share taxpayers' information for those taxpayers who are believed to be
04:31criminals or have committed a crime.
04:33I'm asking you about Doge, and its apparent effort to have an omnibus information sharing
04:37agreement with agencies.
04:39Do you agree that you cannot share taxpayer data without statutory authorization from this
04:44Congress, and you don't have any for that purpose?
04:47We will follow the direction of the regulations and the courts, sir.
04:51Are you sharing any taxpayer information with Doge for this omnibus information sharing agreement
04:58where they seem to probe into the privacy of every American, consolidating it with Social
05:02Security and other private information?
05:05Is there such sharing going on now, sir?
05:07Well, first of all, I would push back on that characterization.
05:11You can do so.
05:12I just want to know if you're sharing in the time that remains.
05:14I will tell you, and there seems to be a misunderstanding among many people on your side of the aisle on
05:19what Doge is.
05:20Doge employees…
05:21I understand you had some misunderstanding about it, and Mr. Musk yourself, but let me
05:27ask you again.
05:28Just simply on the question I'm asking, are you sharing any of this data with Doge without
05:35congressional authorization?
05:37As I said, we are following all of the laws.
05:44I would appreciate an answer to my question, but I will yield back since my time has expired.
05:49Mr. Smith is recognized.