We congratulate Scott Bessent on his confirmation as the United States’ next secretary of the treasury, and believe he has outlined a philosophy that can help America get back on track.

Some specific issues on which we are buoyed by his confirmation include the minimum wage, the national debt and spending deficit and America’s regulatory climate.

While in the past we have been, and remain, open to the possibility that a small increase in the federal minimum wage could be warranted, we always have urged lawmakers to be cautious about the detrimental impact too large of an increase would have on small businesses. We have also urged supporters of an increase, at either the federal or state level, to recognize that the needs of working families differ from community to community — $7.25 or $9 or $15 goes much further in rural regions such as ours than in Philadelphia’s Society Hill neighborhood.

We were reassured during Bessent’s confirmation hearing that he seems to have a greater understanding of this than many lawmakers. Minimum wage policy, he said, according to Washington, D.C.’s The Hill newspaper and website, is “more of a statewide and regional issue.”

We are further reassured that Bessent repeatedly emphasized the seriousness and gravity of the national debt and national deficits. We have long maintained in our editorials that this fiscal situation is unsustainable and that our federal officials need to bring greater focus to this impending crisis.

“This debt and deficit is going to be the big issue of the day,” the Associated Press reports Bessent as saying.

He has further critiqued excessive regulations and subsidies, such as for electric vehicles, that distort the free market.

These excessive regulations and market distortions, we believe, divert resources from where they can have the most benefit, hindering job creation, wage growth and stability in prices.

While we caution anyone against expecting an immediate or overnight solution, we are confident that Bessent’s leadership can place the American economy on the path to prosperity and success for working families.