Trump’s Fed nominee stalls after Florida’s Rick Scott misses vote for COVID quarantine

Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott’s quarantine for potential COVID-19 exposure helped sink, at least temporarily, President Donald Trump’s Federal Reserve Board nominee who wants to return to the gold standard, a monetary system that links the value of the U.S. dollar to gold.

Scott was one of two senators, along with Republican Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who missed Tuesday’s confirmation vote on Judy Shelton due to quarantining for coronavirus concerns. Shelton is a former Trump campaign adviser and critic of the Fed, causing Democrats and some Republicans to oppose her nomination on the grounds that she won’t provide independent-minded oversight of the U.S. banking system and Federal Reserve Banks.

“Judy Shelton’s views are extreme and retrograde,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer tweeted Monday evening. “She seems to prefer the economic policies that led to the Great Depression. She has openly advocated to a return to the gold standard.”

The U.S. went off the gold standard in 1973.

A vote to advance Shelton’s nomination failed on Tuesday with 47 senators voting in favor and 50 voting against, though Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell voted no to preserve his ability to bring the nomination up again later. It’s rare for nominees to fail on the Senate floor.

Three Republican senators, Susan Collins of Maine, Mitt Romney of Utah and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee are opposed to Shelton’s nomination, though Alexander also wasn’t in Washington for the vote. Their opposition, combined with the absences of Scott and Grassley, gave Republicans 48 votes while Democrats have 49 votes counting Collins and Romney. Vice President-elect and California Sen. Kamala Harris, who hasn’t been present for recent votes since the election, was in Washington for the vote. If there’s a tie, Vice President Mike Pence would be able to cast the tiebreaker in favor of Shelton’s nomination.

A spokesperson for Scott said he’s feeling fine, though he’s quarantining in Florida since Saturday and has no plans to leave before the end of the week.

“He’ll be in quarantine all week,” said Scott spokesperson Chris Hartline. “He’s gotten tested a couple of times since and tested negative.”

Scott tweeted on Saturday that he may have been exposed to the virus: “After arriving in Florida last night, I came into contact with someone who subsequently tested positive for COVID. I was tested this morning and the result was negative. I have no symptoms, but out of an abundance of caution, I will be immediately quarantining.”

This is the second time Scott, 67, has quarantined himself. In March, Scott entered self-quarantine after having possible contact with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s press secretary shortly before he tested positive for COVID-19. Scott never tested positive and returned to work two weeks later.

While Scott’s quarantine was known to Senate Republicans for days, Grassley’s quarantine was announced on Tuesday morning. Grassley is 87 years old and is third in the line of presidential succession. He missed Senate votes for the first time since 1993 after quarantining on the advice of his doctors.

Confirming Shelton in the next few weeks could be a challenge. The Senate is scheduled to be out of session over Thanksgiving, and Republicans will see their Senate advantage shrink in early December. Arizona Democratic Sen.-elect Mark Kelly is scheduled to be sworn in early next month after beating Republican Sen. Martha McSally in a special election.

While Fed board members typically serve 14-year terms, Shelton would be filling an open seat with a term that expires in early 2024.

This story was originally published November 17, 2020 at 3:25 PM with the headline "Trump’s Fed nominee stalls after Florida’s Rick Scott misses vote for COVID quarantine."