Judy Shelton appears now to have enough Republican support for her controversial nomination to the Federal Reserve’s board of governors to get through.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday he will advance Shelton’s name to the Senate floor after Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) told reporters she now will support the economic advisor to President Donald Trump, CNBC’s Ylan Mui reported.
“I’ve had an opportunity to talk to Judy Shelton and I’m going to be supporting her,” Murkowski told reporters Thursday afternoon, according to reports in various news outlets.
Shelton’s nomination had been stalled in the Senate even though the judiciary committee cleared her by a narrow party-line 13-12 vote in July. Several key Republicans had been wavering in their support, and it appeared for some time that the nomination would not clear before the current congressional session ended.
At the contentious July hearing, senators grilled Shelton over her views on Fed independence, her support of the gold standard and her wavering over whether bank deposits should be insured.
Democratic senators accused Shelton of backpedaling from earlier statements she had made on those issues.
Her co-nominee, St. Louis Fed executive vice president Christopher Waller, faced a much easier time and gained committee approval by an 18-7 vote.