Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended President Trump’s spending cuts and efforts to reduce government welfare rolls on CNN’s State of the Union program over the weekend.

Bessent was questioned by host Dana Bash on how Medicaid cuts will affect what she calls “the affordability crisis” for vulnerable Americans.

The Treasury Secretary responded by insisting that Bash separate the issue of affordability from the saving of medicaid, noting that “only in D.C. is a 20% hike over 10 years, a cut.”

Bessent insisted that the people that “Medicaid was designed for” are those who are vulnerable including pregnant women, the disabled and families with children under 14.

Under Trump’s spending cuts, Bessent says the able bodied will have the opportunity to “get off Medicaid and get a job that has good healthcare benefits.”

Bessent told Bash, “I don’t think poor people are stupid. I think they have agency,” adding that a work requirement for the able-bodied has been a popular approach even under Democratic administrations.

Bessent responded to Bash’s claim that work requirements would be “very cumbersome” and would force people needing Medicaid coverage off the rolls, saying: “I think they have agency, and I think to have them register twice a year for these benefits—that is not a burden. But these people who want to infantilize the poor and those who need these Medicaid benefits are alarmists.”

Bessent told CNN, “Medicaid should focus on helping the vulnerable people it was designed for. Work requirements are broadly supported by the public and already implemented in many states.”

The Treasury Secretary also discussed President Trump’s “90 deals in 90 day” that he had promised the American public regarding a 90 day pause on reciprocal tariffs with a number of U.S. trading partners.