Since the start of President Donald Trump‘s second term, the weight of the world, or at least of global markets, international trade, and geopolitical relations, has fallen on the shoulders of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, whose portfolio spans everything from China tariffs to bond auctions.

But Bessent’s toughest negotiating partner is probably not Chinese President Xi Jinping, the European Union, or any other foreign power. Instead, Bessent’s most formidable foe is Congress, and the contest is his race to finance the national debt.

In a recent House Ways and Means Committee hearing, Bessent correctly took a victory lap over Trump 2.0’s fiscal performance thus far.

“Critics of the President’s efforts to modernize the IRS warned that the effort would result in a 10% shortfall in receipts,” Bessent said. “Instead, the opposite happened: April receipts this year were up 9.5% over the previous year, and receipts in May were up 14.7% over the previous year.”

Even without Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill,” which is still pending Senate approval, the Treasury Department has done an exceptional job of bringing the ballooning national debt to a halt. From the start of........

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