Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Monday said the Federal Reserve should remain politically independent but called for oversight of the central bank’s expensive headquarter renovations.
In comments to reporters, Thune said he didn’t know whether Fed Chair Jerome Powell could be fired over his management of the building upgrades, where costs have ballooned to $2.5 billion, but said when it comes to interest rates, the Fed is historically shielded from politics.
“That agency is supposed to be independent and operate sort of outside the whims of the political process,” he said. “So that seems to be kind of where — not notwithstanding the president obviously has an opinion about this — but that seems to be where he’s landing in terms of what he may or may not do.”
As for the headquarter renovations, the Republican leader said the issue “requires and demands some amount of oversight.” White House Budget Director Russell Vought has been digging into the costs of the project, and Powell has also asked the Fed’s inspector general to look into it.
The central bank is self-funded, but its profits are given to the U.S. Treasury annually.
Thune’s remarks come as Trump and his administration have been escalating their attacks on Powell, who has held interest rates steady this year despite vehement calls from the president for lower borrowing costs. The Fed chief has said he is waiting to see how tariffs feed through to the economy before making any policy moves, though he expects to cut rates sometime later this year.
The senator said he met with Trump today but they did not discuss Powell.
