GOP senators start turning against Powell

Sen. Bernie Moreno is recruiting more GOP senators for his pressure campaign to force Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to resign.Why it matters: Powell has resisted calls from President Trump to leave his post early, enduring mockery and meanness from the very president who appointed him in 2017.Moreno (R-Ohio) wants to broaden the case against Powell and amp up the pressure to persuade the Fed to lower interest rates more quickly.A member of the Senate Banking Committee, Moreno is also setting the stage for the confirmation process for the next Fed chair. Powell's chairmanship ends in May 2026.So far, Moreno and Sens. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) are the only senators to have called on Powell to resign.Driving the news: In a closed-door Senate lunch on Wednesday, Moreno made his case against Powell, arguing that he is misreading the inflation data and mischaracterizing the effects of Trump's tariffs."Your choice not to lower interest rates despite the Trump Administration's economic progress is costing our country $400 billion per year," Moreno wrote to Powell on Wednesday in a letter obtained by Axios."You should resign immediately and allow the President the deference to select someone he feels can make the changes needed to restore the credibility of the Federal Reserve System."Zoom out: Trump and other Republicans have recently seized on reports about the Fed's $2.5 billion renovation projects.This month, Bill Pulte, the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, called Powell's congressional testimony on the construction "deceptive" — a remarkable attack from one regulator against another.But the core complaint among the Republicans frustrated with Powell centers on rates and what is perceived as the Federal Open Market Committee's slowness in cutting them under his leadership.Between the lines: Those challenging him are also convinced the Fed was more willing to cut rates when Biden was president."I call him 'Too Late.' He's always late," Trump told reporters at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. "But he wasn't late with Biden before the election, he was cutting like crazy."Zoom in: Moreno is particularly upset the current target rate, set between 4.25% and 4.5%, is increasing the deficit and making it more difficult for consumers to finance car purchases and pay their credit cards. Powell has told senators concerns about debt servicing costs are outside of the Fed's legal mandate."We're here to achieve maximum employment and price stability," he said at a hearing in February. "And it's really up to Congress to deal with fiscal issues, and we leave that to you."The other side: Other GOP senators are more interested in preserving the Fed's independence."I don't think a bunch of politicians ought to be telling the Federal Reserve how to regulate," Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) told Axios."The Federal Reserve ought to be independent," he said. "In the countries where they're not, generally speaking, the Powerball jackpot is 287 chickens and a goat.""Their economy is an embarrassment."

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