WASHINGTON _ The White House is considering conservative economist Judy Shelton to fill one of the two vacancies on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors that President Donald Trump has struggled to fill.
Shelton has been contacted by the White House regarding the position, according to two people familiar with the matter who described the outreach on condition of anonymity.
Shelton, who has served as an informal adviser to President Donald Trump, holds a Ph.D. in business administration with an emphasis on finance and international economics from the University of Utah. She has worked for the Atlas Sound Money Project, founded to promote awareness about monetary stability and financial privacy, and was on the board of directors of the National Endowment for Democracy.
She declined a request for comment.
Trump has struggled to find candidates for the Fed who are popular among senators who vote on whether to confirm nominees. Trump has named four people for the two seats on the board of governors, though none of them has made it through the Senate, raising questions about the White House vetting process for his picks.
Conservative economic pundit Stephen Moore last week was the latest Fed candidate to flame out, following businessman Herman Cain and economists Nellie Liang and Marvin Goodfriend.
Moore's exit, following weeks of questions about his qualifications and criticism of his past writings and public remarks, renewed frustrations among Republicans and the president's own advisers that the White House's nomination process is light on background research and driven largely by the president's whims.
Moore and Cain withdrew before being formally nominated. Liang and Goodfriend were nominated last year. Goodfriend wasn't re-nominated this year and Liang withdrew in the face of tepid enthusiasm for them among Senate Republicans and Trump himself.
Trump has succeeded in filling three posts on the Fed board and managed to elevate Jerome Powell, already a governor, to the chairmanship _ though the president rapidly soured on him following the central bank's 2018 interest rate increases. The president also won Senate confirmation of Fed Vice Chairman Richard Clarida and the Fed's vice chairman for supervision, Randal Quarles.
