Tillis, Warren spar over Federal Reserve
HUNT VALLEY, Md. (TNND) — Senator Thom Tillis, (R-NC), pushed back Monday on criticism from his Democratic colleague, Elizabeth Warren, (D-MA).
She said on Saturday that Republican senators are foolish if they believe the Department of Justice has ended its investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Tillis, who announced Sunday he is taking the DOJ at its word for dropping the probe, accused Warren of hypocrisy. The Democrat, he said, has threatened the integrity of the very institutions she talks about preserving.
“For all of @SenWarren’s tough talk about protecting institutions, very few politicians have done more to undermine the institutions of all three branches,” Tillis wrote in a social media post. “Launching baseless attacks to undermine the independence of a highly qualified Fed Chair nominee, pushing efforts to pack the Supreme Court, and supporting nuking the filibuster (but of course, only when her own party is in power).”
Tillis is allowing the confirmation of Powell’s nominated replacement to advance following the DOJ’s announced termination of its investigation, which focused on cost overruns in the Federal Reserve’s headquarters renovations. Warren, citing President Donald Trump’s statement that the probe is continuing, expressed frustration in her Saturday X post about Tillis’s change of heart.
She has criticized Powell’s tenure as chair but defended him from Trump’s attacks. The president has sought to fire Powell for refusing to lower interest rates to levels he demands, even though the Federal Reserve has historically operated independently of the White House.
Tillis, who is part of a slim Republican majority in the Senate Banking Committee, has expressed concerns about the Federal Reserve’s autonomy. He sided with Democratic committee members to block Kevin Warsh, Trump’s nominee to lead the central bank, until the DOJ ended its investigation.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro of Washington said Friday she would hand off the probe to the Federal Reserve’s inspector general but warned she could resume it.
“The IG has the authority to hold the Federal Reserve accountable to American taxpayers,” Pirro wrote on X. “I expect a comprehensive report in short order and am confident the outcome will assist in resolving, once and for all, the questions that led this office to issue subpoenas.”
Powell announced in January that the Federal Reserve received subpoenas about congressional testimony he made on the headquarters renovations last year. The chair has denied that the cost overruns are a result of the addition of luxury features, which Trump and the DOJ, under the president’s influence, claim have grown the price tag.
The renovations are running hundreds of millions of dollars over budget.
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