Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent found himself in a heated exchange with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on Sunday morning, revisiting remarks the anchor made during the 1995-96 government shutdown.
What began as a discussion on the current political landscape quickly turned into a clash over history and perspective.
Filibuster Debate Sparks Tension
The conversation started with Stephanopoulos asking Bessent about former President Donald Trump’s recent efforts to eliminate the filibuster—a rule requiring 60 votes for most legislation to advance in the Senate.
Bessent began to answer, but almost immediately pivoted to Stephanopoulos’s past as a senior adviser in Bill Clinton’s White House during the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
Bessent, 63, reminded the ABC host of a 2000 PBS interview where Stephanopoulos and other Clinton staffers admitted they framed Republicans as “basically terrorists” to pressure Congress during the 21-day shutdown.
“Look, you were involved in a lot of these in the ’90s. And, you know, you basically called the Republicans terrorists,” Bessent said.
Stephanopoulos, 64, quickly fired back, “I can disagree with you about the history there, but we don’t need a history lesson right now,” refusing to get drawn back into the past.
A Shouting Match Over Government Strategy
The discussion escalated, with both men trading barbed comments.
Bessent held a collection of Stephanopoulos quotes and even teased, “I’ve got all your quotes here, George.”
Stephanopoulos tried to steer the conversation back to the present, saying, “I’m sure you do.
But let’s talk about the situation right now.”
Bessent referenced Stephanopoulos’s book, All Too Human: A Political Education, joking about its recent Amazon sales as proof of the anchor’s prior statements.
Stephanopoulos defended himself, calling it a “mischaracterization of history,” but pivoted to addressing the current shutdown.
Bessent Stands Firm on Bipartisan Action
Despite the interruptions, Bessent remained consistent in his solution to end the ongoing standoff: he called for five moderate Democratic senators to cross the aisle and work with Republicans.
“The best way is for five Democratic senators to come across the aisle,” he said.
History, he noted, offered a blueprint. The 21-day Clinton-era shutdown ended after a compromise, with Republicans agreeing to a budget featuring fewer cuts than originally demanded.
Stephanopoulos previously explained to PBS’s Chris Bury that the Clinton team’s strategy involved portraying the GOP’s hardline stance as a form of blackmail to the nation—a tactic that ultimately succeeded.
Democrats Break Ranks in Current Shutdown
As Bessent predicted, history seemed to repeat itself.
On Sunday night, the Senate passed a spending deal to end the current government shutdown with a 60-to-40 vote.
A group of Democrats defied party lines to vote alongside Republicans, echoing the kind of bipartisan maneuvering that Bessent had recommended earlier in the interview.
Looking Ahead
The episode on ABC highlighted how history and present-day politics often collide.
While Stephanopoulos resisted a lesson from the 1990s, Bessent demonstrated how past shutdown strategies can inform current solutions.
For now, the government reopens, but the clash of perspectives reminded viewers that political debates rarely stay in the past.