by 
Gage Skidmore
Herman Cain has not yet been nominated to join the Federal Reserve Board, but Republicans are already working to remove him from consideration. Republican Senators are warning President Trump that the nomination of the 2012 presidential candidate will cause an ugly confirmation fight that they would prefer to avoid.
“There are concerns that are being voiced to the administrations about qualifications,” said Senator John Thune (R-S.D.) “They’re probably going to hear from a number of our members about concerns that they have. Whether or not that gets them to make a course change or not, I don’t know.”
Republican senators have more or less taken a hands-off approach to Trump’s nominees since his taking power in January 2017; but when it comes to the Federal Reserve lawmakers are more hesitant to approve nominees that could politicize what is supposed to be an independent government arm.
The disagreement over Cain comes at a time when Republican senators are already working on stopping Trump’s purge of the Department of Homeland Security and preventing damaging auto tariffs. The senators have also frowned on one of Trump’s other possible nominees, Stephen Moore.
Some senators believe that Moore’s chances of getting to the Feds has risen since Cain’s name came up. Despite Moore’s issues such as unpaid taxes and strongly partisan reputation, pundits think Republican senators would not want to push back on both Trump nominees, allowing a path for Moore to be nominated to the Fed.
Republicans are trying to persuade Trump to pick someone with less partisan positions, and less problems.
“I don’t think Herman Cain will be on the Federal Reserve Board, no. I’m reviewing Moore’s writings and I’ll make a determination when I have done so,” said Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who seems confident Cain will either be derailed or not officially nominated.
“I feel that we can’t turn the Federal Reserve into a more partisan entity,” Romney added. “I think that would be the wrong course.”
