Looks like charges of a sexist past may be the downfall of yet another of Donald Trump’s presumed picks for appointment to the Federal Reserve Board.
GOP Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa went on record Tuesday saying that it was “very unlikely” that she would support Stephen Moore’s placement on the board, according to the Washington Post.
Moore, a Trump ally and a fellow at the Heritage Foundation, has been criticized for past comments he has made about women. Such comments included, according to CNN, criticizing female athletes for wanting equal pay, stating that they wanted “equal pay for inferior work,” and writing that there should be no women involved in March Madness tournaments, calling it “un-American.”
On Tuesday, CNN reported additional comments concerning women by Moore, including one criticizing the Violence Against Women Act.
Moore has yet to be nominated to fill one of the vacant seats on the Fed board, but it has been expected that Trump would do so after an earlier Trump fave, Herman Cain, bowed out from consideration after taking hits on earlier allegations of sexual harassment and one woman’s promise to come forward to testify if he were nominated.
It’s a stereotype I know, but one would think that those charged with overseeing the Federal Reserve, aka the nation’s central bank, would be of a more, er, sober bent.
And on Tuesday, at least one Republican, Ernst, openly expressed misgivings if Trump were to nominate Moore.
“Stephen Moore, I am going to make a comment on that,” Ernst said while on her way to the Senate floor, the Post reports. “Very unlikely that I would support that person.”
The Post adds:
Beyond Ernst, three other female Republican senators — Susan Collins (Maine), Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.) and Shelley Moore Capito (W. Va.) — expressed serious concerns about Moore. They cited his comments saying there would be societal problems if men were not the breadwinners in the family, denouncing co-ed sports and saying female athletes do “inferior work” to men.
If four of the 53 Republican senators reject Moore, his nomination would likely fail, as no Democrats are expected to back Trump’s pick.
“These stories that have come out recently will be a good test about what the support level is up here,” Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.), told Politico of Moore Tuesday. “If you have Joni [Ernst] and other members of our conference … as affected by some of these stories as she was, we’ll get a sense of that pretty quickly.”
Sounds like Moore may not want to get whipped up about his chances of making it onto the Fed.