Senator Murkowski Shouldn’t Wait to Reject Trump Fed Board Pick Over His Disqualifying Views

April 23, 2019

Stephen Moore Has Ugly History of Urging Kids to Burn Their Social Security Cards and Degrading Women 

Moore Claims “Not a Single [Senate] Republican” Opposes His Potential Nomination

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Last March, President Trump tapped Stephen Moore, a self-described “radical”who’s not a “big believer in democracy,” to serve a 14-year term overseeing the nation’s monetary policy on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Moore made a name for himself as a conservative commentator and frequent cable news guest who pushes fringe right-wing ideas like dismantling Social Security because in his words: “We’ve probably gone too far in providing a safety net for the elderly.” Moore’s troubling history of trafficking in misogyny and sexism has also come to public light in recent days. Consumer watchdog group Allied Progress encouraged Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) to decide sooner rather than later whether she wants those views represented on the Fed board where Moore would have influence over decisions that impact millions of Americans.

Moore boasted last week that the White House told him that not a single Republican Senator is opposing his nomination. While Murkowski was quick to come out in opposition to President Trump’s other Federal Reserve Nominee Herman Cain who dropped out on Monday, the Senator has kept curiously quiet about Moore.

“Given Stephen Moore’s unapologetic history of degrading women, dissing democracy, disparaging the elderly, what more does Senator Murkowski need to know to conclude Moore does not belong at the Fed?”said Jeremy Funk, spokesman for consumer watchdog group Allied Progress. “Moore has been on the Washington scene for decades and what he stands for is no mystery. We’re talking about someone who egged on a roomful of kids to burn their Social Security cards and thinks seniors who depend on Social Security are living too high on the hog. This is objectively not a serious or rational choice for a fourteen-year appointment to the Fed. If Senator Murkowski is uncomfortable with any of Moore’s fringe beliefs, she ought to voice those concerns now before it’s too late.”  

BACKGROUND: Stephen Moore’s Views Have No Place on The Fed:

• Moore Urged Kids to Burn Up Their Social Security Cards in Support of Privatization

• Moore on Social Security: “We’ve probably gone too far in providing a safety net for the elderly”, “Essentially was a Ponzi scheme”

• Moore wrote: “Capitalism is a lot more important than democracy … I’m not even a big believer in democracy.”

• Moore said women should be banned from refereeing or announcing at men’s college basketball games, asked if there was any area in life “where men can take vacation from women.”

• Moore Wrote That White Males Were The “New Oppressed Minority On College Campuses” And That If Women “Were So Oppressed And Offended,” They Wouldn’t Show Up “In Droves In Tight Skirts To The Keg Parties.”

• Moore Has Repeatedly Called for Scrapping the Federal Reserve in Favor of a Return to the Gold Standard, an Idea Resoundingly Rejected by Republicans and Democrats Alike in the Economist Community

• Moore Has Advocated For a Regressive National Sales Tax That Would Be a Massive Tax Cut for Millionaires While Increasing The Tax Burdens of Low- And Middle-Income Taxpayers

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