U.S. SENATE – U.S. Senator Steve Daines today spoke with Derek Theurer, President Trump’s nominee to be Deputy Under Secretary of the Treasury, in a Senate Finance Committee hearing. Daines praised the extensive wins in the One Big Beautiful Bill and discussed the importance of CDFI funds. Daines praised the extensive wins in the One Big Beautiful Bill:
Daines: Mr. Chairman, thank you and I want to thank all the nominees here and your willingness to serve this great country. I want to speak for a moment about that Big Beautiful Bill, now a big beautiful law. It’s one of the most transformative pieces of legislation that I’ve ever had a chance to work on on Capitol Hill. When you get a bill that’s nearly a thousand pages in length, typically in Washington, D.C., after a bill like that gets passed, the more you dig into it, the worse it gets, except for this bill. This is a bill where the more we dig into it, the more the American people see what we actually passed, the better it gets. And I’m very proud of what we did here, and Chairman Crapo, again, thanks for your leadership. This was a consequential moment, and I’m grateful that we got this passed and signed by the President. This strengthens the border. It preserves Medicaid by rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse. We’ve got to combat the lies from the left about what we did here to make sure that Medicaid is there for the future by going after the abuse and the fraud that exists today in that program. We protected the Second Amendment. We funded our military. This will unleash the American economy, making these provisions permanent on expensing capital, R&D, interest. This is just jet fuel for our economy and how we beat China long term by incentivizing investment in R&D and innovation. By the way, we prevented a $4.5 trillion tax increase, the largest that would have occurred in American history. That was stopped with what we did. The average Montana family is going to save about $3,000 a year because of what we did. So we need to keep talking about that. About 90 percent of senior citizens will see their social security benefits not taxed as a result of this bill. The No Tax on Tips, that brilliant thought that President Trump received during the campaign, what a way to help reward those hard-working men and women across America who service us every day. He, the President, delivered on his promise to unleash American energy dominance. We saved a couple of coal mines in Montana because it was done with that bill, and our energy sector will continue to boom in Montana and across the country. The administration understands the need for baseload power and grid reliability. Again, all provisions in this bill that are going to help our country. The previous administration tried to shut down the Colstrip power plant that’s in my state of Montana. It’s a major baseload power provider. They put up burdensome red tape. This administration, the Trump administration, is overturning those harmful rules that allow us to power our economy. Anyway, let me move to some questions here. I’m going to start with Mr. Theurer. Will you commit to safeguarding these projects that we just passed that are complying with and making sure they’re complying with the law as written and the existing beginning of construction guidance?
Theurer: The Office of Tax Policy will interpret and provide guidance and looks forward to working with you and your staff as they go through that process.
Daines discussed the importance of the CDFI fund:
Daines: I just want to have assurances that any revisions to existing guidance will hold harmless projects that comply with the rules in effect prior to changes made in the bill. As you know I’ve been a strong supporter of CDFIs in the past. I was thankful to hear Secretary Bessent reiterate in March that the administration also recognizes, and I quote, “the important role that the CDFI fund and CDFI’s play in expanding access to capital and in providing technical assistance to communities across the United States.” I appreciate Secretary Bessent’s affirming the administration’s recognition of the statutory functions of the CDFI fund and the programs it administers in his memo to the OMB confirming these programs and the fund were required by law. However, we have heard from recent stakeholders who are concerned with the administration’s commitment to administering these vital CDFI fund programs in light of funding delays. Mr. Theurer, given the Secretary’s earlier statement and memo to OMB, can you provide assurances the Department of Treasury will commit to allocating the remaining 2025 FY25 funds already appropriated by Congress for the CDFI fund?
Theurer: If confirmed I look forward to working with you and your team.
