LEESBURG, Va. â House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Thursday that President Trumpâs picks to serve on the Federal Reserve are âthe worst, ill suited, that the president could come up with for the job.â
Trump has said he plans to nominate Stephen Moore and Herman Cain to seats on the central bank’s board of governors, giving them votes on monetary policy and financial regulation.
Moore, a longtime conservative economics commentator, served as a Trump campaign adviser and Cain, who ran for the GOP nomination in 2012, is also a strong political backer of the president.
Pelosi said the two would politicize the Fed by doing Trumpâs bidding. Trump has publicly criticized the Fed for raising interest rates.
âThis is a dangerous thing for the economy when a central bank of an economy has a political influence there,â Pelosi said. âIt is wrong.â
[Related: White House stands by Herman Cain ‘at the moment,’ Kudlow says]
Pelosi was meeting Thursday with her rank-and-file at an annual party retreat held at a resort in a Washington, D.C. suburb.
Pelosi invited the current chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell to address the caucus on Thursday night.
âFor him to have to deal with a politically motivated Fed,â Pelosi lamented. âThere are so many bridges too far here. But this is a really dangerous one.â
Pelosi urged Republicans to ask Powell, who the president has criticized, to speak to them about the role of the bank.
âThey should invite him and listen to what he has to say,â Pelosi said.
Cain is facing possible Senate rejection if nominated. At least three Senate Republicans said they oppose Cain serving on the Fed in part because they question his qualifications. Cain, during his presidential campaign, faced allegations of sexual misconduct, and he subsequently dropped out.
Cain served as the Kansas City Fed chairman and is a former pizza chain CEO.
Mooreâs chances of winning confirmation are less clear, but his role as a Trump adviser and surrogate will complicate his path, as would reports that he underpaid taxes and child support. Republican lawmakers told the Washington Examiner they first need to review his qualifications for the post.
