In his first public hearing, Donald Trump’s nominee for Federal Reserve chairKevin Warshfaced several rounds of questions about his loyalty to the president as Trump looks to reshape a powerful global economic institution.
Trump has pushed for criminal investigations intocurrent chair Jerome Powellover renovations at the central bank’s home in Washington, D.C., while the president continues to demand lower interest rates even as fuel prices surge with the U.S. war with Iran that has upended global markets. Warsh has denied that his nomination hinged on the president’s demands, but he repeatedly dodged questions from the Senate Banking Committee about Trump’s politicized overhaul of the Fed.
Follow for the latest from the Trump administration
Trump’s Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.wrapped up the first of two congressional hearings on Tuesday as the nation’s top health official justifies his budget to lawmakers and defends his chaotic year in office.
In front of a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Tuesday morning, the vaccine skeptic defended the administration’s response to a surge in measles outbreaks within the last year, saying that low vaccination rates predated his time in office. There have been more than 1,700 measles cases in the U.S. so far this year.
Next, Kennedy will appear before a Senate appropriations subcommittee to review the Department of Health and Human Services budget request, which would slash the agency by 12 percent as lawmakers wrestle with changes to vaccine policy, rising healthcare costs and the loss of thousands of public health employees.
The president’sattempt to fire Fed governor Lisa Cook“would weaken, if not shatter, the independence of the Federal Reserve,” according to Trump-appointed Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Warsh said it wouldn’t be “appropriate” to weigh in when asked by Sen. Angela Alsobrooks whether he would defend his potential future colleague.
“If I stand for anything it’s that the Fed should stay in its lane,” he told the Senate Banking Committee.
A legal challenge over Trump’s attempt to remove Cook from the board is pending before the Supreme Court. Warsh said “it’s not appropriate for me to weigh in on that” as he “could be a party to that matter.”
Source: Drudge Report
