The U.S. Senate voted to confirm Scott Bessent as secretary of the Treasury on Jan. 27, 2025. The Senate voted 68-29 in favor of his nomination with 15 Democrats, one independent who caucuses with Democrats, and 52 Republicans voting in favor. This was the fifth member of President Donald Trump’s (R) Cabinet confirmed in his second presidential term.
Trump announced on November 22, 2024, that he had selected Bessent as his nominee for secretary of the Treasury. Trump said of Bessent’s nomination, “Scott has long been a strong advocate of the America First Agenda. On the eve of our Great Country’s 250th Anniversary, he will help me usher in a new Golden Age for the United States, as we fortify our position as the World’s leading Economy, Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurialism, Destination for Capital, while always, and without question, maintaining the U.S. Dollar as the Reserve Currency of the World.” The Senate Finance Committee held a confirmation hearing for Bessent on January 16, 2025, and voted 16-11 to advance his nomination.
Bessent received a bachelor’s degree from Yale University in 1984. After graduating, Bessent worked at Brown Brothers Harriman and Kynikos Associates. In 1991, Bessent began working at Soros Fund Management (SFM), where he was the firm’s head of European allocation before he resigned in 2000. Bessent then founded a hedge fund that later closed, and worked as a senior investment advisor at Protégé Partners and as an adjunct economic history professor at Yale. Bessent returned to SFM in 2011 and served as the firm’s chief investment officer until 2015. In 2015, Bessent founded the hedge fund Key Square Management.
At the time of Bessent’s confirmation, he was the fourth of the main Cabinet secretaries to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. At this point in Trump’s first term, two of the main 15 Cabinet secretaries had been confirmed.
At this point in the Biden administration, three of the main 15 Cabinet secretaries had been confirmed, and at this point in the Obama administration, 11 of the main 15 Cabinet secretaries had been confirmed.
A presidential Cabinet is a group of senior federal officials who advise the president on the issues and activities of their respective agencies. The number of officials in a Cabinet can vary across presidential administrations. While not explicitly identified in the Constitution, the Cabinet secretaries are the 15 agency heads who are in the presidential line of succession. The vice president is also part of the Cabinet.
During Trump’s second term, the following offices are also Cabinet-rank positions: White House chief of staff, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, the U.S. trade representative, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, the director of National Intelligence, the administrator of the Small Business Administration, and the ambassador to the United Nations.