‘We’re Not Gonna Let Them Be Irresponsible’: Scott Bessent Dismisses Martha Raddatz’s Raising Dem Shutdown Concerns

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent brushed off ABC host Martha Raddatz’s attempt Sunday to pin the government shutdown on Republicans.

The shutdown of the federal government began Oct. 1 after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer rallied nearly all Senate Democrats to block a bipartisan funding bill. Martha Raddatz pressed Bessent on the shutdown’s impact, asking whether the president should meet with Democrats to end the standoff during an interview on “This Week.”

“People are suffering, federal employees are starting to go to food banks. Any light at the end of the tunnel on that? Should the president be meeting with Democrats again?” Raddatz asked Bessent.

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“What good does it do, Martha? They’ve dug in. The American people are a hostage to Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries’s poll numbers, ’cause what’s changed between now and the last time there was a clean continuing resolution is Chuck Schumer has tanked in the polls,” Bessent responded. “Both of the two guys from Brooklyn, like I call ’em, are worried about being primaried from the left. 52 Republican senators have voted 11 times to reopen the government, three brave moderate Democrats have come across the aisle. So, you know, I call on moderate Democratic senators to end this craziness. You’ll be heroes.”

When Raddatz attempted to raise additional shutdown concerns and noted Republicans control Washington, Bessent didn’t hold back.

“What can we do? What can we do for this desperate act that we can call on them to change their minds? Because I can tell you, the 1.5 trillion in spending that they’re calling for, that’s not on the table. We inherited a mess,” Bessent said. “We inherited the worst budget deficit-to-GDP when we weren’t in a recession and we weren’t at war. It was 6.4, 6.5%. We’ve managed to bring that down to 5.9%. And we’re not gonna let them be irresponsible with the budget again.”