US Senate's top Democrat criticizes Trump's pick for Fed seat

The U.S. Senate’s top Democrat on Tuesday said President Donald Trump’s pick for a powerful position at the Federal Reserve lacks the right background for the job.

Trump said on March 22 that he would nominate conservative economic commentator Stephen Moore for a seat on the central bank’s board of governors, but the president has yet to send a formal nomination to the Senate.

Trump’s Republican party controls the Senate, so Democrats may have difficulty challenging Moore’s nomination.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Moore’s background as a partisan commentator made him a bad fit.

“Mr. Moore doesn’t have the background. He’s a politician. He’s political,” Schumer told reporters.

Before joining the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank, Moore had worked as an editorial page writer at the Wall Street Journal. He helped write Trump’s signature tax plan and was an adviser to his presidential campaign.

Moore holds a master’s degree in economics from George Mason University.

Reporting by Richard Cowan, writing by Jason Lange; Editing by Dan Grebler