House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Thursday blasted President Donald Trump’s nominees for the Federal Reserve as “the worst, ill-suited appointments” he could have made, CNBC reports.
Trump selected former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain and his former campaign adviser Stephen Moore as his nominees for the Fed’s board of governors, though he has not yet made these nominations official.
“With stiff competition, these two appointments to the Fed are the worst, ill-suited appointments that the president could come up with. There are so many bridges too far here, but this is a really dangerous one,” Pelosi told reporters at a private retreat for legislators.
She added, “the Fed should be determining the rates, not any politicians. That is a dangerous thing for an economy, when a central bank of the country has political influence. It’s wrong.”
“When you have two people totally ill-suited, unqualified for the position because they may just go in and say, ‘The president wants an increase in rates so we’re here to do that,’” Pelosi continued. “Thank God, Chairman Powell is there.”
At the same retreat, Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries told reporters, “It’s not clear to me whether that’s reality or a ‘Saturday Night Live’ skit. It’s an embarrassment.”