Bloomberg News/Landov
Larry Kudlow, director of the White House National Economic Council.
The White House is talking to other possible Federal Reserve candidates, even as the Trump administration stands by its two picks for the U.S. central bank, Larry Kudlow said Tuesday.
Kudlow, the National Economic Council director, told reporters outside the White House that the administration is still backing Herman Cain and Stephen Moore.
Politico reported earlier Tuesday that other candidates for the Fed job are being interviewed and considered. Asked for comment on this report, Kudlow said: “We’re talking to a number of candidates, we always do.”
Enough Senate Republicans have expressed opposition to Cain that it seems his nomination cannot succeed. But Politico reported that President Donald Trump has yet to full move off the idea.
Read: Senate Republicans effectively sink Cain chances to join Fed
Separately, a group of over 100 conservatives tried to rally support for Moore, a former Wall Street Journal editorial writer. They released a letter of support Monday signed by, among others, Steve Forbes, the Forbes editor-in-chief, and Manley Johnson, a former Fed vice chairman.
The letter says simply: “We, the undersigned, support Steve Moore’s nomination to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve.”
Kudlow said that the White House still supports both nominees. The administration has not sent their nominations to Capitol Hill leading to speculation they will never be formally considered.
“Herman’s going through the vetting process for now, that’s where we are on that,” Kudlow said. It is up to Cain what happens after this process is complete, he said.
Since last summer, Trump has expressed undiminished frustration over Fed interest-rate policy. Over the weekend, the president said in a tweet that the Dow Jones Industrial Average would as much as 10,000 points higher if the Fed “had done its job properly.” The Dow DJIA, +0.12% has climbed about 8% over the last 12 months, a period that has included three rate hikes.
Read: Trump says stock market would be ‘rocket ship’ without Fed
Trump has picked all but one of the five sitting Fed governors, including Chairman Jerome Powell. There are two vacancies on the seven member Fed board of governors.
The Fed’s interest rate committee consists of the Fed governors and the presidents of five regional Fed bank presidents, all of who rotate as voters except for the New York Fed president, who serves as the committee’s vice-chairman.
