ICYMI: Shelton’s Fellow Nominee Won’t Even Say If He’d Hire Her
But Shelton apparently didn’t just fail to assuage concerns from a growing number of Senate Republicans. Even her fellow nominee Christopher Waller – an economist with a long tenure in the Federal Reserve system – refused to say whether he’d recommend Shelton for the seat or whether he’d be comfortable hiring her for a job in his office. Awkward.
See video HERE and a transcript below:
Dr. Christopher Waller: Senator, that’s your decision, not mine.
Sen. Brown: I figured that would be your answer. Let me ask in a different way. So, you’re at St. Louis Fed, right?
Dr. Waller: Correct.
Sen. Brown: If you were interviewing for your research department, would you hire her?
Dr. Waller: I have a very different research department, in terms of the type of academic research we do. Judy’s been much more in the public light, in terms of her research. My department’s all publishing for academic journals. No, that’s not [inaudible]
Sen. Brown: If someone brought her body of work and writing to you, would you hire her? Or him?
Dr. Waller: Like I said, where her outlets are compared to what we expect our staff… They’re just two different outlets for your research.
Sen. Brown: Mr. Chairman, just a last statement. The takeaway is that we don’t know who we are nominating to the Federal Reserve. Ms. Shelton has disavowed forty years of her writing, as so many on this panel have shown, to say what she needs to say to be confirmed. It isn’t just my colleagues on the Democratic side of the aisle who are concerned. I heard Senator Shelby’s concerns, I’ve heard Senator Toomey’s, I’ve heard others. But, conservatives outside of this body are concerned.