Moore on remark about family breadwinners: ‘I shouldn’t have said that’

Stephen Moore, President Trump’s pick for a seat on the Federal Reserve Board, conceded Tuesday he “shouldn’t have said” that more women becoming the breadwinner of the family was a negative trend.

“I think there should be a statute of limitations on saying stupid things,” Moore told PBS’s “Firing Line,” adding that “times have changed a lot” since he made the remarks before being reminded he had made similar comments in 2014.

.@StephenMoore said “the male needs to be the breadwinner of the family” in 2000. He now says he “shouldn’t have said that.” Watch how he puts it now. pic.twitter.com/lBddLYqLPF

— Firing Line with Margaret Hoover (@FiringLineShow) April 30, 2019

“I’m for higher wages for everybody, but the problem is black male and white male wages have been falling, and I do think that’s a problem for our society,” Moore told PBS.

{mosads}While Moore said he “shouldn’t have said” men need to be the breadwinner in the family, he added that “what I am saying is that when you have male wages declining like that, they become less important in terms of the breadwinner in the family, and that can lead to family instability.”

Moore’s comments and writings, particularly about women, have come under scrutiny in recent weeks since he was reported to be in the running for the Fed position.

In a series of columns for National Review in the early 2000s, Moore said women should have no involvement in men’s college sports, at one point saying they should only be involved if wearing halter tops.

His comment about family breadwinners also drew scrutiny.

“The male needs to be the breadwinner of the family,” Moore said in 2000, “and one of the reasons I think you’ve seen the decline of the family, not just in the black community but also it’s happening now in the white community as well, it’s because women are more economically self-sufficient.”

Signs of eroding support for Moore’s nomination in the Republican-controlled Senate have appeared in recent days. Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.), one of Trump’s most vocal backers in the chamber, said Tuesday that Moore’s nomination would be “very problematic,” while Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) said that she was “very unlikely” to support him.