Schumer: GOP should oppose ‘equally unqualified’ Stephen Moore after blocking Herman Cain from Fed

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Monday said Senate Republicans should derail Stephen Moore’s potential nomination to the Federal Reserve Board after successfully quashing Herman Cain’s bid for the central bank.

President Trump announced in a Monday tweet that Cain had withdrawn from consideration for a Fed nomination, two weeks after GOP senators all but doomed his confirmation.

In a Monday statement, Schumer called on Republicans to block Moore’s potential appointment to the Fed, calling him “equally unqualified, and perhaps more political” than Cain.{mosads}

“Herman Cain was woefully unqualified to be on the Federal Reserve and his failure to garner adequate support should not be used as a pathway by Senate Republicans to approve Stephen Moore,” Schumer said.

“Mr. Cain clearly saw the writing on the wall and withdrew his name from consideration; hopefully Senate Republicans will again voice their deep concerns and force Mr. Moore to do the same,” Schumer added.

Trump said on April 4 he would nominate Cain, a 2012 Republican presidential candidate, to the Fed board pending a background check.

But four Republican senators announced soon after that they would vote against Cain if he were nominated. With four of 53 Senate Republicans opposed to his nomination, Cain would need the support of all other GOP senators and at least one Democrat to be confirmed, which was highly unlikely.

Cain defied the GOP backlash to his nomination well into last week, telling The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday and Fox Business Network on Thursday that he would not withdraw.

His reversal comes days after Trump’s top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, told reporters the White House was interviewing replacement candidates for Cain and Moore, whom Trump floated for the Fed in March.

Moore is seen as a slightly more viable candidate for the Fed given his extensive ties to Washington Republicans. An economist and commentator, Moore spent several decades with right-leaning groups advocating for conservative economic proposals and political candidates.

But Moore, an opinion contributor for The Hill, has also faced intense criticism across the political spectrum for his close ties to Trump, controversial statements and what detractors call a series of dubious and inconsistent economic views.

Moore’s lengthy record of commentary has also posed obstacles to his confirmation. In a March 2002 column for National Review unearthed Monday by CNN’s KFile, he suggested that women should have no role whatsoever in men’s college basketball.

“Here’s the rule change I propose: No more women refs, no women announcers, no women beer venders, no women anything,” Moore wrote.

“There is, of course, an exception to this rule. Women are permitted to participate, if and only if, they look like Bonnie Bernstein,” he wrote. “The fact that Bonnie knows nothing about basketball is entirely irrelevant.”

He added that Bernstein, a CBS sports journalist at the time, should wear halter tops.

Bernstein fired back on Twitter, telling Moore “You want halter tops? Hit the club scene. You want hoops knowledge? Try actually listening.”

Moore told CNN’s KFile that the suggestion was “a spoof. I have a sense of humor.”