Scott Bessent Slams Larry Summers' '2,000 Days Of Death' Remark On Trump Tax Plan: Demands Apology Over 'Callous' TV Comment
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent criticized former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers on Monday, calling his recent television comments about Trump’s tax legislation “shockingly callous” and demanding a public apology.
What Happened: The confrontation stems from Summers’ appearance on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday, where he claimed the administration’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill” would cause “2,000 days of death like we’ve seen in Texas this weekend,” referencing the Yale Budget Lab’s estimate of 100,000 deaths over 10 years from safety net cuts.
Bessent fired back in a four-part social media thread, accusing Summers of “using the horrifying situation in Texas for cheap political gain” and turning “a human tragedy into a political cudgel.”
The Treasury Secretary characterized Summers’ remarks as “feckless and deeply offensive,” calling for immediate dismissal if no apology is forthcoming.
Why It Matters: The dispute highlights growing tensions over Trump’s tax package, which the Congressional Budget Office estimates would increase federal deficits by $3.8 trillion through extending 2017 tax provisions. The CBO projects household resources would decrease by 2-4% for the lowest income decile while increasing 2-4% for the highest earners.
Summers has emerged as a prominent critic of the legislation, previously calling it a “prescription for deadly, dangerous decline” that takes on debt “on a massive scale that we can’t afford.” He cited three drivers of rising U.S. debt: an aging population drawing entitlement benefits, increased government healthcare costs, and Treasury interest payments.
The former Harvard president has also warned that the dollar is beginning to trade like a Latin American currency, losing its safe-haven status as global reserve share declined from 85% in 1974 to 57% last year.
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