NEWS: Senator Blunt Rochester Pushes Fed Chair Nominee Kevin Warsh on Independence of Fed

"Wall Street is going to be okay, but who we're concerned about as well is Main Street."

CLICK HERE to watch Senator Blunt Rochester's full exchange.

Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, today pressed Kevin Warsh, President Trump's nominee to lead the Federal Reserve, on his inconsistent position on interest rates and his willingness to gamble with America's workforce in the era of Artificial Intelligence.

Senator Blunt Rochester's full remarks and exchange with Mr. Warsh can be found here. A key excerpt is below:

Senator Blunt Rochester: "You mentioned your desire for reform as well as regime change at the Fed. Can you clarify? You didn't mean removing the regional bank presidents whose five-year terms were just…re-upped in December?"

Mr. Warsh: "Senator, I meant policy regime change."

Senator Blunt Rochester: "You have described [AI] as structurally disinflationary and that central bankers must make a bet…I'm concerned about us making a bet on something that…we don't have the data to even understand yet…What happens for policy if that surge doesn't materialize as expected?"

Mr. Warsh: "I think the essential elements of new policy for the Federal Reserve is to get access to better data and to dig deeper into the productivity possibilities that can come out of this new investment wave…I don't claim to have perfect knowledge of how any of these are going to go, but I do have an intuition."

Senator Blunt Rochester: "There's been a lot of conversation here about concerns in your record and your history. You have been hawkish on inflation rates and keeping them low and now we're looking at AI. What I don't want to see is us use AI as an excuse for making policy. Too much depends on it. Too many families' lives depend on it…. Wall street is going to be okay, but who we're concerned about as well is Main Street."