National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said on Sunday that the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decisions shouldn’t be subject to political influence amid the Trump administration’s calls for the central bank to cut interest rates.
Hassett appeared on CBS News’ “Face the Nation,” where host Margaret Brennan cited a CBS poll that found 70% of Americans want the Fed to make decisions independently of President Donald Trump, though 59% of Republicans want the Fed to be guided by what Trump wants. She then asked Hassett which camp he would fall into.
“Oh, if I were in that survey, then I would say 100% that monetary policy, Federal Reserve monetary policy, needs to be fully independent of political influence,” Hassett said.
“Including from President Trump,” he added in response to a follow-up question from Brennan.
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“The fact is that we’ve looked at countries that have allowed the leaders to take over the central banks, and what tends to happen is that it’s a recipe for inflation and misery for consumers,” he said. “And so central bank independence is some that – as you saw, there was a hearing this week about that, that Democrats and Republicans and the White House all agreed about.”
“Now, the question is, has the current central bank been as independent as we would like, as transparent as we would like? And I think there’s some dispute about that,” Hassett said.
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