‘He’s done an exceptional job’

A prominent House Republican who is in charge of a monetary policy task force told Yahoo Finance he still supports Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve chair on a day when President Trump once again criticized the central bank boss for not lowering interest rates.

“I think under the circumstances, he’s done an exceptional job, and he’s had an exceptionally difficult time to be there — maybe the most complicated since the 1930s,” Rep. Frank Lucas of Oklahoma said in an interview.

Lucas does not believe that major changes will be made to the structure of the central bank and added that he thinks Powell will serve out the remainder of his term through May 2026, which Powell has also expressed.

“We’ll see who President Trump nominates at that point.”

Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Okla., speaks to reporters in April. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images) · Bill Clark via Getty Images

The positive comments about Powell from a key House Republican demonstrate that the central bank chair does still have some prominent supporters in Congress, despite the recent attacks on his performance coming from the White House.

Trump himself has repeatedly called for the Fed and Powell to ease their policy stance and did so again on Tuesday, saying on Truth Social, “What is wrong with Too Late Powell?”

“No Inflation, and Prices of Gasoline, Energy, Groceries, and practically everything else, are DOWN!!! THE FED must lower the RATE, like Europe and China have done,” Trump added.

Read more: How much control does the president have over the Fed and interest rates?

He has made the same points repeatedly in recent weeks, contending that Powell has a history of moving too late on monetary policy.

“‘Too Late’ Jerome Powell is a FOOL, who doesn’t have a clue,” Trump said in a separate social media post last week.

The White House studied removing Powell from his chairmanship, although Trump earlier this month appeared to rule out that possibility.

Lucas is of the view that the president should be able to speak his mind about Fed policy.

“I would simply say perhaps with the exception of President Eisenhower, every president since 1913 had strong opinions about how the Fed should conduct their business and has used the bully pulpit, the public discussion to try and drive policy,” he said.

“President Trump is well within his rights. I also think that Chairman Powell has a really complicated and hard job.”

The Fed is an independent agency from the White House, with a dual mandate from Congress to ensure stable prices and maximum employment.

Lucas — who heads the House’s Task Force on Monetary policy, Treasury Market Resilience, and Economic Prosperity — is leading efforts to review whether the central bank should focus more exclusively on fighting inflation amid a broad review of the central bank.