US President Donald Trump said he would announce new Federal Reserve governors and new employment data statisticians in the coming days. Against the backdrop of a worrying global economic growth trajectory, these two appointments could affect his economic agenda.
Trump made the remarks to reporters on Sunday as he was returning to the White House from a weekend in Bedminster, New Jersey. He has come under criticism for his constant attacks on the Federal Reserve and for firing the director of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Erica Groshen, after weak jobs data was released – moves seen as undermining institutions that are typically regarded as above politics.
As for the Federal Reserve, the president said he has “several candidates in mind” after Adriana Kugler announced on Friday that she would step down as a Fed governor, a position that was set to expire in January. Kugler’s departure provides Trump with an earlier-than-expected opportunity to appoint a governor who is more in line with his preference for low interest rates.
Kevin Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council, Kevin Warsh, a former Federal Reserve governor, Christopher Waller, a current Fed governor, and Scott Bauer, the Treasury secretary, are all seen as potential candidates for the chairmanship of the Federal Reserve. The current governor nominee nominated by Trump may take over as the chair of the Federal Reserve after Jerome Powell’s term expires in May.
Kugler’s departure came at a time when the White House was exerting unprecedented public pressure on the Federal Reserve over interest rates, and Trump was frequently launching personal attacks on Powell. Trump had accused the Fed chair of being “too angry, too stupid and too political” because he consistently refused to vote for a rate cut and demanded that Powell step down.
At the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Trump fired Makentafu because of the weak employment report, partly due to the significant downward revision of the employment data for May and June. Her dismissal was criticized by her predecessor, who called it an unfounded move.
“It’s very harmful,” William Barr, the FBI director picked by Trump during his first term, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “I don’t think there’s any reason to fire him at all.”
Beach said that research shows that the agency’s data is more accurate than it was two or three decades ago, including any revisions to the original data. Even so, he still said that he would trust the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ future data because the agency’s employees are “the most loyal Americans you can imagine,” which makes the agency “the best statistical agency in the world.”
McEntaffer’s nomination was unanimously approved by the Senate with 86 votes in favor and 8 against. Vice President JD Vance, who was a senator at the time, also voted in favor of her nomination.
Hassett claimed on Fox News Sunday and NBC’s Meet the Press that the large revisions to the employment data were unexplained and sufficient to prove that the Bureau of Labor Statistics needed to “re-examine” itself.