US President Donald Trump's nominee for the post of Federal Reserve governor, Judy Shelton, on Thursday vowed to be independent amid criticism that her appointment would enable the president to influence policy-making at the central bank
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th February, 2020) US President Donald Trump's nominee for the post of Federal Reserve governor, Judy Shelton, on Thursday vowed to be independent amid criticism that her appointment would enable the president to influence policy-making at the central bank.
"I pledge to be independent in my decision making. Frankly, no one tells me what to do," Shelton said, testifying before the Senate Banking Committee hearing.
A former economic adviser to Trump's presidential campaign, Shelton's nomination has raised controversy due to her past writings that US monetary policy should revert to the long-abandoned gold standard. After opposing low interest rates for years, she recently began supporting Trump's call that rates should be slashed to zero if necessary.
Shelton has also abandoned her past view that the central bank should not try to accommodate financial markets as Trump continuously criticizes the Federal Reserve for not doing enough to support the stock market.
Sherrod Brown, a senator from the Democrat party that's rival to the Republicans under Trump, told the hearing that Shelton "has spent her entire career advocating for policies that would make our economy more volatile" and accused of her having "flip-flopped on too many important issues."
"We know she'll say exactly what the president wants her to say," Brown said. "More than ever the Fed needs to be independent and careful and not reactive to every tweet coming out of the White House. A vote for Miss Shelton is a vote against that independence and our nation's reputation is a financial bulwark for the whole world."
Trump has persistently criticized Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, whom he nominated for the job, for being too slow in cutting interest rates to the extent that the United States lost out to other countries in trade due to its more expensive dollar.
This week, as Powell appeared before the Senate himself to testify on monetary policy, Trump criticized him on Twitter again for making remarks that apparently caused the stock market to drop.
Shelton swore to resist any attempt by the administration to use her to politicize monetary policy.
"I wish to emphasize my commitment to honor the constitutional authority of Congress to regulate the value of US money," said Shelton, who could become Trump's choice to succeed Powell in 2022 if the president gets re-elected in November. "It would be anathema to me to suggest that we devalue our money to gain a trade advantage."
Shelton and another Trump nominee for Federal Reserve governor, Christopher Waller, who also testified on Thursday, will require 50 of 53 Republicans to back them in a full Senate vote to win confirmation of their appointments.
