Trump offers Fed board seat to Stephen Moore
Washington: US President Donald Trump on Friday said he would nominate his former campaign adviser Stephen Moore to serve on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors.
“It is my pleasure to announce that Stephen Moore, a very respected Economist, will be nominated to serve on the Fed Board. I have known Steve for a long time — and have no doubt he will be an outstanding choice!” the president wrote on Twitter, Xinhua reported.
Trump made the offer to the economic commentator earlier this week, but Moore still has to clear background-check process for the nomination, which would take weeks or months, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) quoted an unnamed senior administration official as saying Friday.
Last week, Moore published an opinion piece he co-authored on the WSJ, arguing that the Fed’s tight-money policy is a threat to US economic growth. His view echoed that of the president, who has repeatedly criticised the Fed Chairman Jerome Powell for raising interest rates.
Moore is a visiting fellow for Project for Economic Growth at The Heritage Foundation. He created the Club for Growth, which helps elect conservative members of the Congress.
There are currently two vacancies on the seven-member Fed board, and nominations have to be approved by the Senate.
Also under consideration for the Fed board is Herman Cain, who ran for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, the Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing anonymous sources. Cain, a former pizza company executive, served as a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
Cain defended higher interest rates in December 2017, a position that differs from the president’s stance last year, the Bloomberg reported.
Trump on Thursday reiterated that the Fed’s policies have impeded economic growth. “And frankly, if we didn’t have somebody that would raise interest rates and do quantitative tightening, we would have been at over 4 [per cent] instead of at 3.1 [per cent],” he told Fox Business Network.
The US Fed on Wednesday left interest rates unchanged after concluding a two-day policy meeting, and announced that it will end the runoff of its balance sheet at the end of September.