President Trump’s nomination of supply-side advocate and informal adviser Stephen Moore for a seat on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors caught Capitol Hill off-guard.
But not all senators thought Trump’s unorthodox pick to the central bank’s leadership was bad.
“I think he’ll be good,” said Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. “He’s got a long history in the conservative movement here in town, and … I know him personally very well. I think he’s a good pick.”
Paul, a vocal critic of the Fed and opponent of one of Trump’s past nominees to the central bank’s board, economist Marvin Goodfriend, is an important early vote to pick up.
Moore, a fellow at the Heritage Foundation, is a well-known figure in conservative circles, primarily for his strong advocacy for lower taxes. He’s also become a lead advocate for the Trump administration’s policies on television and served as an informal adviser to Trump during the push for the 2017 tax overhaul. But his nomination caught Republicans flat-footed.
“I was a little surprised at his interest in it. I love Steve, I know him pretty well, and he’s a good economist, but he’s never really been a monetary guy. Maybe that’s good,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., a member of the Senate Banking Committee that Moore’s nomination will need to clear. “He’s got nerdy qualities for a TV personality.”
Cramer said he hadn’t decided yet whether he would support Moore’s nomination and wanted to talk to him about how he would approach the position.
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, declined to comment on Moore’s credentials, but said that Trump did not consult with him beforehand. “But that’s not unusual,” Crapo said.
Moore himself seemed surprised at the speed with which Trump decided to announce his intent to nominate him.
“It’s not a done deal,” Moore told the Examiner in a brief interview about an hour before Trump’s announcement on Friday.
“I’m kind of new to this game, frankly, so I’m going to be on a steep learning curve myself about how the Fed operates, how the Federal Reserve makes it decisions, and this is a real, exciting opportunity for me,” Moore said in an appearance on Bloomberg TV on Saturday. “So it’s hard for me to say what even my role will be there, presuming I get confirmed by the Senate.”
Sens. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., and John Kennedy, R-La., other members of the committee, also declined to say whether they will support Moore’s nomination, though Shelby praised his character and work pushing for conservative economic policies.
“He would be a new voice at the Fed. Probably, at times, the Fed needs new voices,” said Shelby. “I’ve always said they could use diversity, you don’t need to be a Nobel laureate or University of Chicago professor.”
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a centrist who voted against the 2017 Republican healthcare plan, said she wasn’t as familiar with Moore.
“It’s an unconventional nomination, I don’t know much about him, and I look forward to his hearings,” she said.
Moore’s long history in conservative politics leaves little wiggle room for the administration in vote counting, since Democrats are unlikely to support him.
“I don’t know that he’s qualified, I got a lot more due diligence to do,” said Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., who crossed the aisle to support a Republican-authored financial regulatory reform law passed last year.
When asked about Moore’s ability to contribute to major economic decisions independent of politics, given his history of political activism and support for Trump in particular, Cramer downplayed any concern.
“I don’t think he’d be politically swayed,” said Cramer. “This president’s going to appoint somebody, given his relationship with [Moore], it’s not a surprising pick. If anything surprised me it’d be Stephen’s interest.”
