A Lame Duck Fed Board Confirmation Would Be Unprecedented In Modern Times, Yet McConnell Holds Vote on Trump’s Extreme Pick During Pandemic, Despite Bipartisan Opposition

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The McConnell-led Senate is charging ahead with a key vote today on President Trump’s extreme nominee for the Federal Reserve Board, Judy Shelton — ignoring the worsening health crisis and recession and growing bipartisan opposition to Shelton, including by Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and the National Review. Confirming Shelton would also ignore precedent: government watchdog Accountable.US found that no nominee for the Federal Reserve has ever been sworn-in during a lame duck Presidency since at least 1937. 

Senator McConnell would rather ignore Shelton’s fringe views like returning to the outdated gold standard — an idea roundly panned by respected economists — or her outrageous suggestion to hold an international summit on monetary policy at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago golf resort, a taxpayer-costing arrangement that could have violated the Emoluments Clause. Shelton once exclaimed that she is “tired of the criticism… even among Republicans” that “Wall Street greed, or predatory lending” led to the 2008 financial crisis. She has even advocated ending federal deposit insurance, which would put American’s hard-earned money at risk to bank failures. 

“Gold-standard obsessed Judy Shelton’s ability to be an independent and steady hand guiding the nation’s monetary policy has been challenged across the political spectrum – and a deep recession is certainly no time to make such a risky gamble. This is a poor time for the Senate to make history confirming a Fed Board member under a lame duck president during modern times,” said Jeremy Funk, spokesman for Accountable.US. “Shelton actually believes Wall Street and predatory lenders were blameless for the financial crisis that gave us the Great Recession. Hers would not be a reasonable voice advising the Fed Chair during the current recession, yet the McConnell-led Senate has decided to treat this reckless nomination like a consolation prize for the fired president. The Senate should leave all nominations for the next president and start focusing on the heath and economic crises they have ignored for months.”   

SHELTON TOO EXTREME FOR THE FED BOARD:   

• In November 2009, Just A Month After Unemployment Peaked As A Result Of The Financial Crisis, Judy Shelton Argued, “I Am So Tired Of The Criticism […] Of Wall Street Greed, Or Predatory Lending” And Claimed, “We Over-Tax People, We Over-Burden With Regulatory Requirements.” 
   
   
• Milton Friedman, A Nobel-Winning Economist Who Himself Held Once-Fringe Views, Said Of Shelton’s Work: “‘It Would Be Hard To Pack More Error Into So Few Words.’” 
 
   
• Shelton Has Likened The Federal Reserve’s Power To Soviet Planning, Saying, “‘We Might As Well Resurrect Gosplan.’” 
   
• Shelton Wrote That The U.S. Government Should Sell-Off Its “Numerous Federal Land Holdings,” Including Public Lands, In Order To “Expedite The Achievement Of A Balanced Budget.” At Her Nomination Hearing, She Was Lambasted For Her Views On Selling Public Lands And Public Assets. 
   
• Shelton Said Two Economists Who Saw The New Deal As On “The Same Spectrum As Nazism And Communism” Were “Two Such Respected Voices In Austrian Economics.”   
   
• Shelton Has Retweeted Condemnation Of The G-7’s “Social-Justice Bromides” And Praise For Margaret Thatcher Having “No Truck With Identity Politics.”
    
   
• Shelton On The Federal Reserve’s Legally-Required Responsibility To Maintain Full Employment: “‘I Don’t Know That That Is Really The Fed’s Job.’”
    
   
• Former Treasury Secretary And National Economic Council Director Lawrence H. Summers Has Called Shelton A “Dangerous” Appointment Who “Falls Well Below” Trump’s Other Failed Federal Reserve Picks.  
   
• Shelton Has “Ditched Lots Of Supposedly Deeply Held Beliefs To Pander To The President,” Even Reversing Her Positions On Key Federal Reserve Issues.    
   
• Shelton Has Suggested That Trump’s Mar-A-Lago Resort Should Host A Potentially Historic Monetary Policy Summit.    
   
• Shelton Has Suggested Privatizing The Postal Service—“The Most Popular Government Agency Of All”— And Risking “Immense Price Increases” And Possibly Even “Constitutional Issues.”    

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