CNN’s Dana Bash Gets Fact-Checked Live on Her Own Show by Scott Bessent [WATCH]

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent firmly rejected claims made by CNN anchor Dana Bash during a Sunday appearance on State of the Union, where the two sparred over the economic impact of President Donald Trump’s newly signed “Big Beautiful Bill.”

Bash cited a study from the Yale Budget Lab in an attempt to argue that the bill would increase taxes on working-class Americans while benefiting the wealthiest.

According to Bash’s summary of the analysis, high-income earners would see a two percent rise in income, while lower-income Americans would see a three percent drop. Bessent quickly challenged the credibility of the source.

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“Well, Dana, first, let’s have a look at the Yale Budget Lab, because I was looking at their findings, and this week I actually went on their website. They’re all ex-Biden officials, so I think we can discount everything they say,” Bessent said.

“I’d encourage all your viewers to look at the composition of both the board and the staff. And it’s just not right that what we have here is a middle class and working class bill. That we, are going to see wages accelerate and we are going to see, just as we saw with President Trump’s first tax bill, we are making permanent these tax cuts.”

Bessent emphasized that the 2017–2018 tax law enacted under President Trump actually increased tax liability for top earners.

“So that’s going to be permanent now. So permanently, the highest 10% will pay a higher percent of the taxes,” he said.

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The Treasury Secretary also pushed back against claims that the legislation would significantly cut Medicaid. Bash raised concerns over the bill’s inclusion of work requirements for Medicaid eligibility, which some Democrats and left-leaning media outlets have labeled as a cut to benefits.

“No, there are no change in benefits. There’s a change in requirements to get the benefits,” Bessent replied.

“What we are doing is, we are bringing back manufacturing jobs. We are bringing back working class jobs. By securing the border, we have already seen working class wages move up. So we are creating jobs, people can get off Medicaid and get a job that has good healthcare benefits, Dana.”

Bash continued by suggesting that work requirements were unpopular, including among some members of the Republican conference in the House.

However, the bill passed with the support of all but two House Republicans, neither of whom cited Medicaid as the reason for their opposition.

Bessent responded, “Well, first of all, it’s the Republicans are not the most vocal on this. It is a group of Democrats who unfortunately seem to think that poor people are stupid. I don’t think poor people are stupid. I think they have agency. And I think to have them register twice a year for these benefits, that is not a burden, but these people who want to infantilize the poor and those who need these Medicaid benefits are alarmist.”

When Bash argued that Republicans traditionally oppose additional bureaucracy, Bessent noted historical support for work requirements under past Democratic administrations.

“Well, no, no, no, but we’ve also wanted to put in work requirements, which somehow that was very popular under Bill Clinton, was popular under President Obama, and this Democratic Party blew out the deficit in 2020, and they never want to bring it back. But work requirements even poll well with the median Democratic voter, maybe not the fringe.”

Bessent referenced the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, signed into law by President Bill Clinton, which instituted work requirements for welfare benefits and was widely supported at the time.

President Trump signed the “Big Beautiful Bill” into law last week.

The legislation includes a wide array of economic, tax, and labor-related provisions aimed at restructuring welfare, lowering the national deficit, and making permanent the Trump-era tax cuts.

The law has become a focal point of national debate and is expected to remain central to ongoing policy discussions through the remainder of the year.

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