‘Maya MacGuineas should be ashamed’: Scott Bessent launches war of words with the nonpartisan think tank that agrees with Trump on tariffs

Appearing Sunday on Fox News, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent turned a debate over tariff revenue into yet another admonishment, only this time, the target of his ire had recently turned out championing the role of tariffs in improving the country’s fiscal outlook. 

“Maya MacGuineas should be ashamed,” Bessent said, referring to the president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan organization that provides frequent updates on the country’s fiscal health and national debt outlook.

MacGuineas has spent much of the past week addressing the possible fiscal consequences of the Supreme Court’s ruling Friday that Trump’s “emergency” tariffs were in fact illegal. Not having those tariffs in place amounts to around $2 trillion added to the national deficit over the next decade, according to CRFB research, and could push the national debt upwards to 131% of GDP by 2036 instead of 120% as previous baselines projected. 

The CRFB has called for measures to replace Trump’s levies with other mechanisms to minimize revenue loss. But it wasn’t enough for Bessent, who took the opportunity Sunday to shoot the messenger. 

“They should take the word ‘responsible’ out of her organization’s name,” he said. “Tariff revenue will be unchanged this year and will be unchanged in the future.”

The friction began when Fox News host Maria Bartiromo cited CRFB’s analysis, which also suggested ways the U.S. could offset the tariffs ruled out by the Supreme Court, including border-adjusted taxes. Bessent pushed back against the numbers produced by CRFB, calling MacGuineas “wrong” and asserting that revenue projections would not change under the replacement tariffs that Trump announced following the court’s ruling.

In a statement rebutting Bessent’s criticism, MacGuineas called his diatribe “a bit of an odd response,” noting that their analysis was actually in alignment with the administration’s stated goals. MacGuineas pointed out that CRFB has publicly touted the fiscal benefits of tariffs, calling the soaring revenue a “bright spot in an otherwise gloomy fiscal picture.” She also welcomed the administration’s urgent push to replace tariffs with other mechanisms to maintain revenues.

CRFB has previously recommended policies that would likely fall on flat ears in the Trump administration. The organization has characterized Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed last year, as an “economic sugar high” of voracious spending and generous tax breaks, one that would add anywhere between $19 trillion and $32 trillion to the national debt over 30 years.

Two of the CRFB’s recommendations to replace lost tariff revenue were classic budget prescriptions: either scale back tax cuts or reduce spending, directly referring to Trump’s signature policy package.

Trump has moved fast to replace the “emergency” tariffs. After last week’s ruling, he first announced 10% tariffs across the board lasting 150 days, under authority granted from the 1974 Trade Act. He then ratcheted that up to 15% over the weekend, indicating additional levies would soon follow. Those duties are scheduled to kick in shortly after midnight on Tuesday. 

But temporary replacement tariffs might not be enough to satisfy MacGuineas and CRFB. In her response to Bessent she acknowledged that some form of tariff revenue would improve the country’s fiscal outlook, but added that doing so “will require not only replacing lost tariff revenue, but pursuing significant additional spending cuts and/or revenue.”