Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is gaining some key backing on Capitol Hill from GOP senators who fear the repercussions if President Donald Trump follows through with threats to try and remove the politically independent central banker.
As Trump seemingly waffled back and forth this week on trying to dismiss the Fed chair, some Republicans in Congress began to speak up and warn that such a move would be a mistake. Trump would potentially obliterate the Fed's independence from political influence and inject uncertainty into the foundations of the U.S. economy if he fires Powell.
"If anybody thinks it would be a good idea for the Fed to become another agency in the government subject to the president, they're making a huge mistake," GOP North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis said in a floor speech.
The measure of support from GOP members of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs showed how traditional Republicans are carefully navigating a presidency in which Trump often flirts with ideas - like steep tariffs or firing the Fed chair - that threaten to undermine confidence in the U.S. economy.
Tillis, who recently decided not to seek reelection after clashing with Trump, later told The Associated Press that the economic fallout from Powell's firing would mostly hurt "little guys like me that grew up in trailer parks that may have a few thousand dollars in a 401k."