Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s feud with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., has escalated once again as politicians battle it out over the government shutdown.
The feud stems from a letter signed by Warren, Klobuchar and 19 other Democrats accusing the Trump administration of prioritizing Argentina’s interests “over the needs of American farmers and rural communities” and blasting a proposed $20 billion currency swap with Buenos Aires that the Democrats say would prop up U.S. competitors and worsen American farmers’ struggles.
“Instead of prioritizing U.S. farmers and rural communities, the administration has doubled down on aiding Argentina when family farmers are running out of time and cannot continue to endure short-sighted international actions instead of long-term trade stability,” the lawmakers wrote. “We urge you to immediately reconsider further aid to Argentina and to instead focus on restoring and expanding long-term export market access for American farmers.”
In his latest jab at Klobuchar, Bessent said that the shutdown would end when she and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., “finish your tantrum” and vote for a continuing resolution.
“The shutdown will end when you and Senator Schumer finish your tantrum and vote for the clean, non-partisan funding bill. It’s time for you to be a hero, join with your sane, moderate colleagues, and allow millions of American families to sit side-by-side around the Thanksgiving table,” Bessent wrote in an X post Friday morning.
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On Wednesday, Bessent slammed Warren and Klobuchar as “failures” whose staffers should “stop writing incoherent letters” to him and instead focus on reopening the government.
In a blistering statement referencing President Donald Trump’s trip to Asia and Argentina’s economic turnaround, Bessent accused the senators of opposing “economic freedom” abroad and harming American farmers at home.
“@SenWarren and @SenAmyKlobuchar: you are failures,” Bessent wrote in a post to X. “You failed to derail the electoral success of one of our great allies in Latin America, President @JMilei. He won in a landslide with the poorest members of society voting for economic freedom—a notion anathema in particular to the Senate’s resident American Peronist, Senator Warren.”
“You failed to reopen the government, preventing our administration’s efforts to get aid to American farmers, as well as our planned activation of the Farm Credit Agency to assist our farmers with next year’s crops,” Bessent added.
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In her response to Bessent’s post, Klobuchar joked that she thought the scathing remarks were from a fake account, noting that she and the secretary “have had no public or private personal ‘BEEFS’ (Argentinian or otherwise),” referencing another controversial Trump administration plan.
The proposed Argentine beef imports have drawn criticism from both sides of the aisle, with several farm state Republicans calling on the president to rely more on American ranchers.
Klobuchar then defended her “super serious and fact-based letter,” saying that it “simply asked if you would reconsider the tariff policies and foreign bailout.”
“And while your announcement today reversing just part of your own administration’s bad policies is always helpful, there is just so much left to undo before these across-the-board tariffs upend the economy in rural America forever, not to mention becoming a huge burden in the form of the tariff tax on all Americans. In any case, let me know when you are ready to meet to discuss tariffs over some 40% more expensive coffee,” Klobuchar added.
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The current government shutdown has been ongoing for 31 days and is showing no signs of stopping. The longest shutdown in U.S. history occurred under the first Trump administration in 2019 and lasted 35 days. If the government does not reopen by Nov. 5, it will officially be the longest in the country’s history.
Neither Republicans nor Democrats have shown signs that they are willing to budge in their approach to ending the shutdown.
FOX Business reached out to Klobuchar and Warren’s offices for comment.
