Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) escalated his broadsides against Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Friday, calling for his resignation ahead of a highly anticipated summit in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Scott, like other Republicans, took issue with Powell's assurances that inflation would be "transitory" in 2021 as the country reopened from the coronavirus pandemic. The Fed dropped that line last year in the face of 40-year-high price increases and has pursued a series of rate hikes since then.
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The actions have been successful in reining in inflation — though still above the Fed's 2% target, consumer prices rose 3.2% in July, down from 9.1% a year earlier.
But Scott blames Powell for what he views as a series of missteps by the Fed. He attributes the failure of Silicon Valley Bank earlier this year to a "lack of oversight" and, since 2020, has scrutinized the size of the department's balance sheet.
“The only announcement that Jay Powell should be making today is his resignation, effective immediately," Scott said in a statement. "His gross mismanagement of the Federal Reserve has stolen the American Dream from millions of families and caused massive damage to our economy. ”
Powell took a hawkish tone on Friday, signaling at the annual policy summit that further rate hikes may be necessary to reach the 2% target.
“We are attentive to signs that the economy may not be cooling as expected,” Powell said. “We are prepared to raise rates further if appropriate and intend to hold policy at a restrictive level until we are confident that inflation is moving sustainably down toward our objective.”
Powell, chosen by former President Donald Trump to serve as Fed chairman in 2018, was renominated for a second term last year. He was confirmed overwhelmingly by the Senate, though Scott was one of 19 senators to oppose him.
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He and another "no" vote, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), introduced a bill in March to create a Senate-confirmed inspector general for the Federal Reserve system due to the bank failures but also a stock trading scandal that the current inspector general investigated last year.
Powell is not the first official whose resignation Scott has called for. As Florida governor, he demanded that FBI Director Christopher Wray step down after the agency failed to act on a tip to prevent a school shooting in the state. Earlier this year, he called on Joe Biden to resign, part of a war of words with the president over Scott's controversial 12-point policy agenda.