Trump formally announces intent to nominate Waller, Shelton to Fed

President Trump on Thursday announced his intent to nominate Judy Shelton and Christopher Waller to be governors of the Federal Reserve Board after senators rejected several of his previous choices for the central bank.

The White House formally announced Trump’s decisions to nominate Shelton and Waller six months after the president declared his intent to appoint them in a July tweet. It is unclear if Trump has submitted the nomination to the Senate, which is the first step toward confirmation.

The GOP-controlled Senate is likely to approve both Shelton and Waller to be Trump’s fourth and fifth additions to the Fed board. Senators shot down Trump’s previous selections of former campaign advisor Stephen Moore and 2008 presidential candidate Herman Cain before they were formally nominated.

Waller is the executive vice president and director of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. A career academic with no apparent red flags, Waller is widely seen as a safe pick to clear a friendly Senate.

Shelton, a former Trump campaign advisor and U.S. executive director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, is more controversial.

Like Trump, Shelton had criticized the Fed under former Chair Janet Yellen for keeping interest rates close to zero while the during the recovery from the 2008 recession. But Shelton flipped her views on monetary policy after Trump’s election, echoing his call for the Fed to cut rates despite a surge of growth in 2018.

Shelton may also face skepticism from Republicans over her past support the gold standard and an international currency union. Neither idea is broadly supported by Democrats or Republicans.

Even so, Shelton’s past confirmation by the Senate and lack of baggage akin to Moore’s commentary and Cain’s alleged conduct toward women bode well for her confirmation.