Treasury Secretary tells Congress the Trump economic agenda is composed of “trade, tax cuts, and deregulation”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Trump Administration aims to re-shape the America economy by bringing back manufacturing, reshoring jobs by once again making things here, and promoting fair trade, deregulation and tax cuts, the President’s Treasury Secretary told Congress today.

Secretary Scott K. H. Bessent’s Statement Before the United States House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government

As prepared for delivery:

Chairman Joyce, Ranking Member Hoyer, and Members of the Subcommittee—I’m grateful to join you today. Treasury is eager to work with members of Congress to fund key priorities to strengthen our economy. And we look forward to coordinating with you on the President’s budget as soon as it is released.

Today, I wish to highlight the Department’s efforts to boost U.S. economic growth, improve government efficiency, and target illicit actors that threaten our national security.

The core components of the Trump economic agenda are trade, tax cuts, and deregulation. These are not standalone policies. They are interlocking parts of an engine designed to drive economic growth and domestic manufacturing: Tax cuts and cost savings from deregulation raise real incomes for families and businesses; tariffs create an incentive for reshoring jobs and fair trade; and deregulation complements tariffs by making it easier to invest in energy and manufacturing projects.

Already, this agenda is bearing fruit.

In the first 100 days of the new administration, 464,000 new jobs were added to the economy. In April alone, over 177,000 American jobs were added—over 40,000 more than economists predicted. All the while, unemployment remains low while real hourly wages continue to grow.

As important as spurring job growth is wrangling inflation. And in this endeavor, the administration continues to make tangible progress. The CPI for energy goods declined in March as did the price index for core goods. And the CPI for all items declined for the first time since the COVID pandemic. While the cost of goods is decreasing, so are energy prices.

Complementary to our efforts to grow American prosperity, we are focused on improving efficiency across all levels of government—but especially the IRS. We just concluded a successful tax filing season. But the IRS still needs significant reforms to deliver efficient and cost-friendly results for the American people. In this endeavor, we have successfully cut $2 billion from the IRS IT budget without any operational disruptions. We achieved these cost savings by eliminating, renegotiating, and descoping wasteful IT and professional services contracts and addressing longstanding inefficiencies such as auto-renewed licenses unused for years. This intervention alone will save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

We are also taking steps at the IRS to reduce administrative costs, with a particular focus on paper processing which has been a longstanding bipartisan goal. Last year, the IRS spent approximately $450 million on paper processing with nearly 6,500 full-time staff dedicated to the task. Through policy changes and automation, Treasury aims to reduce this expense to under $20 million by the end of President Trump’s second term.

In addition to making government more efficient, Treasury is committed to working alongside the White House to make America safe again. To that end, we have launched a maximum pressure campaign against violent cartels and terrorist networks. We have assessed tens of millions of dollars in civil penalties against organizations facilitating money laundering along the Southern Border. And by leveraging sanctions, we are choking off the financial lifelines of terrorists, criminals, and hackers from Mexico and Guatemala to China and Iran.

In the first 100 days of the new administration, we have set the table for a robust economy that allows Main Street to grow. With Congress and the White House working hand in hand, we expect to see even more positive results over the next few months. Key to expanding economic opportunity for all Americans is making the Trump tax cuts permanent. We look forward to working closely with the Members of this Committee to pass this bill into law. Together, we can build a stronger, safer, and more prosperous America.