Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent clashed with ABC host George Stephanopoulos on Sunday, directly challenging the journalist’s past rhetoric that blamed Republicans for government shutdowns and accusing Democrats of now occupying the same position they once condemned.
During an appearance on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” Bessent rejected the host’s question about whether the Trump administration favored ending the legislative filibuster as a resolution to the current government shutdown. Instead, the Treasury Secretary turned the tables on Stephanopoulos, invoking his history as a senior White House adviser during the 1995–96 federal government shutdowns.
“No, George. The best way to do it— and look, you were involved in a lot of these in the ’90s. And, you know, you basically called the Republicans terrorists and, you know, you said that it is not the responsible party that keeps the government closed,” Bessent asserted.
The Secretary then pressed his argument, claiming that the Democratic party is now preventing the government from reopening. He cited the Senate vote record on a Republican-backed clean continuing resolution, which saw 52 Republicans and only three Senate Democrats vote in favor—five votes short of the 60 needed to end the shutdown.
“And so, what we need is five brave, moderate Democratic senators to cross the aisle, because right now it is 52–3, 52–3. Five Democrats can cross the aisle and reopen the government. That’s the best way to do it, George,” Bessent said.
Stephanopoulos, who served as a senior advisor to President Bill Clinton during the mid-’90s shutdowns, attempted to steer the conversation back to the present.
“I can disagree with you about the history there, but we don’t have to have a history lesson right now,” Stephanopoulos interjected.
Bessent, however, persisted, seeking to quiet the host’s interruption: “No, no, no. George, George, George. If you want, I’ve got all your quotes here. I got all your quotes here, George.”
The Secretary’s claims cite Stephanopoulos’s documented comments on the Clinton administration’s strategy against the GOP during the 1995–96 standoff.
Stephanopoulos’s hard-line communications strategy at the time was successful in shifting public blame onto Congressional Republicans for the closure.
“Our strategy was very simple. We couldn’t buckle, and we had to say that they were blackmailing the country to get their way. In order to get their tax cut, they were willing to shut down the government, throw the country into default for the first time in its history and cut Medicare, Social Security, education and the environment just so they could get their way. And we were trying to say that they were basically terrorists, and it worked,” Stephanopoulos told PBS’s “Frontline” in 2000.
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