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Wednesday, May 1, 2019

Republicans holding 'ongoing discussions' with White House on Stephen Moore, top Senate leader says

South Dakota Republican Sen. John Thune told reporters on Capitol Hill, "We'll know more about that before long."
When asked if the matter could be resolved Wednesday, he replied, "perhaps."
On Tuesday, multiple Republican senators expressed reservations to CNN about Moore, an economic commentator and former Trump campaign adviser who has drawn widespread criticism for his comments and writing on women's equality, including those first reported last week by CNN's KFile.
The hardest sell appears to be with Republican women. Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst said Tuesday that she would be unlikely to support Moore if he is formally nominated.
"Very unlikely that I would support that person," she told reporters on her way to the Senate floor, adding that she's spoken to the White House about it. She previously told CNN that she wasn't enthused by the pick.
Asked if she thought he'd be confirmed if he came up for a vote today, Ernst replied: "I don't think so."
That includes key figures Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who acknowledged "reservations" about Moore, and West Virginia Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, who said of Moore's past positions that "it's hard to look past some of those."
As a writer for the conservative National Review, Moore asserted that women should be banned from refereeing, announcing or beer vending at men's college basketball games. He also criticized female athletes who advocated for pay equality, complaining that they wanted "equal pay for inferior work."
In an email to CNN's KFILE last week, Moore said, "This was a spoof. I have a sense of humor."
But on Tuesday, Moore said on CNBC's "Squawk Box" that he believes the "biggest problem" facing the US economy is the decline in "male earnings."
He continued: "Look I want everybody's wages to rise, of course, but you know, people are talking about women's earnings -- they've risen. The problem, actually, has been the steady decline in male earnings, and I think we should pay attention to that because I think that has very negative consequences for the economy and for society."
Later Tuesday, Moore was asked in an interview with PBS about a comment he made in 2016 about Trump kicking former President Barack Obama's family out of "public housing."
"There's that great cartoon going along, that The New York Times headline: 'First thing Donald Trump does as President is kick a black family out of public housing,'" Moore said at a 2016 event shortly after Trump's election. "And it has Obama leaving the White House. I mean, I just love that one."
"I shouldn't have said it," Moore said on "Firing Line with Margaret Hoover."
He appeared to acknowledge in that interview that his comments may end his chances for confirmation.
"Again, you go back 30 years, you're going to be able to find clips over and over and over again about me. I have a long paper trail," he said. "I mean, there's no question about it, and I say things that are kind of jokes, that if people want to pick them apart, then I probably won't, you know, get on the Federal Reserve Board."
Moore who was formerly a Wall Street Journal editorial board member and CNN contributor, has not yet been formally nominated. He told CNN on Tuesday that he had no plans to withdraw and expects his vetting to be complete as soon as this week.
"I do need to sit down with every one of them and tell them here's the truth: I'm not anti-woman," said Moore. "When they hear that I think they'll -- hopefully they'll be supportive."
Trump's other controversial Fed pick, Herman Cain, abruptly withdrew from contention in April after the revival of longstanding sexual harassment claims that helped end the restaurant executive's 2012 Republican presidential bid. Cain, who has denied the allegations, said he was dropping out because he didn't want to take a pay cut.

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