Senate Moves to Confirm Trump Fed Nominee Waller, But Shelton's Candidacy Hits Likely Dead End
December 02 2020 - 2:38PM
Dow Jones News
By Nick Timiraos
Senate Republicans' bid to confirm Judy Shelton as a Federal
Reserve governor appears unlikely to succeed now that a new
Democratic senator has been seated, denying President Trump's
nominee the votes needed for approval.
The Senate voted Wednesday to advance the confirmation of
another of Mr. Trump's Fed nominees, Christopher Waller, the r
esearch director at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The
Senate voted 50-45 to clear a final procedural hurdle before Mr.
Waller's confirmation vote, which is likely to occur Thursday.
Mr. Waller, whose term would run through January 2030, has
attended meetings of the Federal Open Market Committee this year in
his capacity at the St. Louis Fed. He headed the University of
Notre Dame's economics department before joining the regional Fed
bank in 2009.
Republicans' majority in the U.S. Senate fell to 52-48 on
Wednesday when Sen. Mark Kelly (D., Ariz.) was sworn in after
winning a special election Nov. 3, defeating Republican Sen. Martha
McSally.
Three Republicans are opposed to Ms. Shelton's nomination. If
Mr. Kelly votes with all Senate Democrats and independents, who are
opposed, she would lack the necessary support for confirmation so
long as all the 51 opposing lawmakers are able to vote.
A Nov. 17 procedural vote to advance Ms. Shelton's nomination
failed, 47 to 50, due to the absences of two GOP senators who would
have voted in her favor, Rick Scott of Florida and Chuck Grassley
of Iowa. They were absent due to coronavirus-related precautions.
Two other Republicans, Susan Collins of Maine and Mitt Romney of
Utah, voted against the confirmation, as did all the chamber's
Democrats and independents.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who supported Ms.
Shelton's confirmation, changed his vote to "no" to preserve the
ability to bring up the nomination later. A second attempt faces
long odds now that Mr. Kelly has been seated. It would require an
opponent to be absent or change their vote.
Republicans also could try to confirm Ms. Shelton in the next
term of Congress should they win two Jan. 5 runoff elections for
Senate seats in Georgia. That would give them a 52-48 margin in the
Senate and, accounting for opposition from Mr. Romney and Ms.
Collins, they could rely on Vice President Mike Pence to break a
50-50 tie.
There would be a window narrow for that to happen. It would
require the White House to submit the nomination anew and the
Senate to vote after the Jan. 5 elections are decided and before
Mr. Trump leaves office Jan. 20.
Mr. Trump nominated Ms. Shelton earlier this year to fill a Fed
board vacancy with a term that runs through 2024. Party-line votes
for Fed board positions hadn't occurred before, reflecting the
central bank's normally apolitical nature. If she is confirmed, Ms.
Shelton would likely do so with the fewest votes of any Fed
governor since at least 1980.
The confirmation of either Mr. Waller or Ms. Shelton would be
the first Fed governor confirmed in a so-called lame-duck period
that follows a November election before the president's term ends
in January, according to Peter Conti-Brown, a Fed historian at the
University of Pennsylvania.
Ms. Shelton's path to confirmation first appeared to be in doubt
after a rocky Senate hearing in February that revealed doubts among
Republicans and unified opposition from Democrats. She has been a
longtime proponent of a return to the gold standard, which would
limit the Fed's ability to influence inflation and employment. "I
don't claim to be in the mainstream of economists," she said at her
hearing.
Republicans voiced misgivings over her public statements and
writings, including a notable shift away from favoring tighter
monetary policy that some said indicated opportunism as she sought
to secure Mr. Trump's favor for the nomination.
As a single vote on the seven-member board, Ms. Shelton's impact
on the Fed's decision-making would be limited. But she could still
use her ability to make speeches and give interviews to color how
policy debates are framed by market and policy analysts.
Ms. Shelton's supporters said she would likely bring a much more
critical view toward the Fed's bond purchases, a program it began
taking since cutting its short-term interest rate to near zero in
March.
Write to Nick Timiraos at nick.timiraos@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 02, 2020 14:23 ET (19:23 GMT)
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