Trump Fed nominee Judy Shelton faced scrutiny at the Senate confirmation hearing as lawmakers challenged her independence from the president
WASHINGTON - Federal Reserve board nominee Judy Shelton faced deep skepticism from Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday, as lawmakers challenged her independence from President Donald Trump and characterized her thinking as too far outside the mainstream to trust with the nation’s economy.
“I apologize for the comparison. I truly do,” Shelton said of an incident raised by Alabama Democratic Senator Doug Jones in which a North Carolina man issued millions of dollars of his own precious-metal backed currency. “I believe he was testing the idea” that money needed to be backed by gold and silver, Shelton explained.
It was one of a series of pointed exchanges between senators and Shelton, an economist with a long track record criticizing the Fed and questioning, at least in theory, whether central banks can even do the job assigned to them.
A spokesman for Toomey said afterwards that the senator was undecided and that Shelton’s answers “didn’t alleviate” his concerns.Alabama Senator Richard Shelby also “has not decided at this point, I know he still has some concerns,” the senator’s communications director, Blair Taylor, told Reuters. “I don’t claim to be in the mainstream of economists....I would bring my own perspective. But I think the intellectual diversity strengthens the discussion.”“Shelton has flip-flopped on too many issues to be confirmed,” said Ohio Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown. “She is far outside the mainstream. She is outside the ideological spectrum.”A second nominee, Christopher Waller, a career economist who is currently the research director of the St.
FILE PHOTO: The Federal Reserve building is pictured in Washington, DC, U.S., August 22, 2018. REUTERS/Chris Wattie
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