Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, released the following statement after President Trump capitulated and said he currently has “no intention” to fire the Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Fed), Jerome Powell.

“I commend Chair Powell for standing strong in defense of the Federal Reserve’s independence. Congress made the Fed independent to ensure our central bank, among other things, fulfills its dual mandate to promote price stability and maximum employment, rather than satisfying the President’s short-term whims. For more than a century, maintaining this independence has helped the U.S. dollar become the world’s reserve currency and our economy to be the global powerhouse that it is today, all to the benefit of our people.

“But the President undermined all of that by threatening Chair Powell, tanking our markets once again, which only recovered when Trump relented. While Trump now claims he has ‘no intention’ to fire the Fed Chair, this of course is not the first, second, or even third time that Trump has attacked – or outright threatened to fire – Chair Powell for not being another ‘yes-man.’ In fact, during Trump’s first term in 2019, I raised alarms about these very same tactics and urged Chair Powell to resist Trump’s unlawful attempts to undermine the Fed’s independence and fire him. 

“Since taking office, Trump has waged a dangerous campaign to undermine our nation’s independent agencies. We saw it when he shuttered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and fired the Directors of the National Credit Union Administration, and Commissioners of the Federal Trade Commission.  Trump’s latest attacks on Chair Powell, are part of a broader effort to seize control of the Fed and empower himself and his billionaire insiders at the expense of working-class families.

“Chair Powell is standing strong and standing up for America and he deserves all of our support.”

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