by Ben Whedon
Kevin Warsh, President Donald Trump’s nominee to succeed Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve chairman, plans to tell Congress he supports maintaining the independence of the Federal Reserve on monetary policy as the president ramps up his criticism of Powell’s hesitance to lower interest rates.
“I am committed to ensuring that the conduct of monetary policy remains strictly independent,” he plans to tell Congress, according to Politico, which obtained a copy of his prepared remarks. “I am equally committed to working with the Administration and Congress on non-monetary matters that are part of the Fed’s remit. And I commit to accountability in all the Fed’s functions.”
Warsh is set to appear for a Tuesday confirmation hearing. His nomination comes as Trump continues to criticize the Fed for its hesitance to lower rates, dubbing current Chairman Jerome Powell as “too late” Powell. Warsh, for his part, plans to address Trump’s comments.
“I do not believe the operational independence of monetary policy is particularly threatened when elected officials — presidents, senators, or members of the House — state their views on interest rates,” he plans to say.
In an interview last week, the president said he would fire Powell if he did not step down as a congressional investigation continues against his handling of the Federal Reserve headquarters renovation.
“Well then I’ll have to fire him, OK, if he’s not leaving on time,” Trump told Fox News. “I’ve held back firing him. I’ve wanted to fire him, but I hate to be controversial, you know. I want to be uncontroversial.”
“[Federal Reserve Chairman nominee] Kevin [Warch] may never get to have the use of that building, and he told me something very interesting,” Trump added. “He said the saddest part of it is they ripped down the most beautiful building of them all. They ripped it down. He said they had boardrooms and various rooms in that building that were the most beautiful in Washington and they ripped it down What they’ve done to that, so it is probably corrupt, but what it really is is incompetent and we have to show the incompetence of that.”
– – –
Ben Whedon is a reporter for Just the News. Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network and contributed to this story.
Photo “Kevin Warsh” by UPS.
