Trump loses second Fed hopeful as Moore pulls out
WASHINGTON – Economics writer Stephen Moore withdrew his name from consideration for a seat on the powerful Federal Reserve board, the second pick for the central bank to pull out in a month, President Donald Trump said Thursday.
“I’ve asked Steve to work with me toward future economic growth in our Country,” Trump tweeted.
In his withdrawal letter, Moore said that while he was “honored and grateful” Trump had asked him to serve on the Fed board, “the unrelenting attacks on my character have become untenable for me and my family, and three more months of this would be too hard on us.”
Moore’s decision, which followed an uproar over his writings on women and other issues, came just a little more than a week after another Trump pick, former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, pulled his name from consideration for a Fed seat because of GOP opposition in the Senate.
Moore also would have faced a tough confirmation fight. Several Republican senators, including Joni Ernst of Iowa and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, raised concerns this week about his writings disparaging women in sports and the workplace.
Trump had yet to formally nominate either Moore or Cain to the Fed, but announced several weeks ago that he intended to do so. Their withdrawal dealt a serious blow to Trump’s attempts to reshape the central bank.
The Fed, an independent board whose seven members are appointed by the president, raises interest rates to cool down a hot economy and cuts them to stimulate a sluggish one. The rates affect how much it costs to use a credit card, sign a car loan or buy a home.
Moore, an early Trump supporter who argued the president deserves a Nobel Prize in Economics, embraced Trump’s criticism of the Fed.
But as a backlash over his selection mounted, the White House had said this week that it was reviewing Moore’s writings, including a column in which he argued that women should be banned from broadcasting or refereeing men’s college basketball games.
Moore’s withdrawal came less than two hours after he told The Wall Street Journal and other publications that he would continue to seek the nomination.
“First, Cain. Now, Moore,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said following Trump’s announcement. “Thank goodness neither were actually nominated.”