Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent slams ABC’s Martha Raddatz for pushing Democratic shutdown narrative

WASHINGTON, DC: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent brought receipts during an appearance on ABC’s 'This Week.' When veteran host Martha Raddatz tried to push a narrative blaming Republicans for the ongoing government shutdown, Bessent wasn’t having it.

Raddatz opened the segment by painting a dire picture of “suffering” federal workers and asking whether President Donald Trump should meet with Democrats again to end the stalemate.

“Today is day 26. I know you have been over there, but there has been a government shutdown here. 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?” she asked.

Bessent fired back with a cold, hard reality check.

“What good does it do, Martha? They’ve dug in," he said. "The American people are hostage to Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries’ poll numbers. Because what’s changed between now and the last time there was a clean continuing resolution is Chuck Schumer has tanked in the polls. Both of the two guys from Brooklyn, as I call them, are worried about being primaried from the left.”  

Scott Bessent slams Democrats over shutdown, warns of military pay crisis

Bessent went on to spell out exactly who’s been doing their job and who’s holding the government hostage.

“Fifty-two Republican senators have voted eleven times to reopen the government. Three brave, moderate Democrats have come across the aisle. So I call on moderate Democratic senators to end this craziness. You’ll be heroes," he messaged.

Bessent warned about what could happen next if Democrats keep playing chicken with the economy.

“Martha, what I can tell you is, we managed to find the money in the middle of October to pay our brave service members, and I think we’ll be able to do it on November 1st. But we’re going to be out of money on November 15th, and for our military not to get paid is a disgrace," he said.

“The other thing that’s happening is this is starting to eat into the economy, starting to slow the economy, and we’re also starting to see there’s a problem with air traffic control. So it’s beginning to slow down our nation’s travel,” Bessent added.   

Scott Bessent schools Martha Raddatz over GOP responsibility in shutdown debate

Raddatz attempted to turn the tables. “But Secretary Bessent, I should add that the President’s party, your party, controls the White House and both chambers of Congress. You don’t think you bear any responsibility for this?" she asked.

Bessent responded, "Martha, what can we do? What can we do for this desperate act? 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.’”

He recalled just how bad things were when the administration took over. "We inherited a mess. We inherited the worst budget deficit-to-GDP ratio 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 going to let them be irresponsible with the budget again,” Bessent argued. 

According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the deficit did indeed reach 6.4% of GDP in 2024, marking one of the worst peacetime figures in US history. The Peter G Peterson Foundation noted that this occurred even as unemployment remained low and the economy continued to perform steadily.

Democratic cracks show as John Fetterman backs GOP bill 

Not everyone in the Democratic Party is sticking with Schumer’s last stand.

Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania told his fellow Democratic colleagues to "cut the s***" and blasted Schumer for blocking pay for federal workers and troops, warning that the move was backfiring as Americans began feeling the heat nationwide. 

He even joined two other Democrats in voting for a GOP-led bill to pay federal workers and the military during the shutdown. That bill fell short thanks to Schumer’s refusal to budge. Meanwhile, Democrats continue to insist that any deal must include extensions of Obamacare subsidies and several other partisan priorities.

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