Vought accuses Fed of ‘fiscal mismanagement’
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought accused the Federal Reserve on Sunday of “fiscal mismanagement” amid tensions between the White House and the Fed.
“The President has been very clear that all he's asking from the Fed is lower interest rates, because he thinks it's important,” Vought said in an interview with CBS News’s Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation.”
“When you look across the — across the globe, and you have countries lowering rates, and yet we don't see that in this country, given all of the positive economic indicators that we're seeing,” he added. “And then we have fiscal mismanagement at the Fed with regard to this building renovation.”
On Thursday, President Trump visited the Federal Reserve headquarters with Chair Jerome Powell to tour a major renovation at the Fed, a project the president and his administration have criticized as over budget.
Powell has frustrated the president over the central bank’s decision to keep interest rates steady, citing economic uncertainty. Trump’s visit to the Fed headquarters featured a rare public appearance of Trump and Powell together, wearing hard hats as they walked around the construction site.
The president has for months teased axing Powell, which could run into multiple legal issues if he does so lacking a cause. He moved away from that notion significantly on Thursday, saying there was “no pressure” on Powell to step away from his job before his term is up in May.
“No, there’s no pressure. We want to have — you know his term comes up soon. I think he’s going to do the right thing. Everybody knows what the right thing is,” Trump said, referencing bringing down interest rates.
When reached for comment, the Fed said it does not “have anything to share.”
Updated at 12:04 p.m. EDT