On The Money: Conservatives rally behind Moore for Fed | White House interviewing other candidates | Trump, Dems spar on Tax Day | Budget watchdogs bemoan ‘debt denialism’

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THE BIG DEAL– Conservatives urge Trump to stick with Moore for Fed: Conservatives are rallying around economist Stephen Moore as President Trump’s controversial pick for the Federal Reserve Board faces a tough fight ahead.

Moore’s allies in conservative circles are urging the president and GOP Senate to stand by the controversial potential nominee, who is facing criticism from across the political spectrum and new questions about the White House’s support.

{mosads}”Steve’s view of the world is something that’s going to be brand new for the Fed and they need to hear it,” Arthur Laffer, a prominent conservative economist close to Moore, said in a phone interview. Laffer was among the Moore supporters who signed the letter.

But their efforts to build momentum for Moore, who has not been formally nominated and is still being vetted, faced fresh uncertainty on Tuesday. I explain why here.

White House mulling replacements: Larry Kudlow, director of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, told reporters that officials are interviewing other candidates to potentially replace Moore and Herman Cain, another nominee to the Fed board, as the president’s picks.

“We’re talking to a number of candidates. We always do,” Kudlow said. “Stephen Moore is in the process. We support him. We support Herman Cain.”

“We’ll just let things play out in the vetting,” Kudlow added.

But Moore’s supporters are urging the administration to stick by their pick:

• “I just hope against hope that there’s not an attempt to replace him,” said Laffer.
• “He’s got a long history of being a small-government Republican,” said J.W. Verret, a law professor at George Mason University. “The fact that he’s done some thinking punditry shouldn’t be held against him.”

The background:

• Trump floated nominating Moore and Cain to the central bank last month, sparking a firestorm of criticism. Cain, who ran for president in 2012, reportedly is considering withdrawing his name after GOP senators made it clear he lacked the votes for confirmation.
• Those who support Moore say his unapologetic advocacy for conservative ideals would add a fresh perspective to the Fed. They also argue that he would find a way to work with the rest of his central bank colleagues despite his often-brash criticism of its current leadership.
• But critics of Moore have seized on his decades of partisan and often controversial commentary. His detractors say Moore’s harsh attacks on Fed officials, close ties to Trump and support for contentious economic ideas make him unfit for the central bank.

LEADING THE DAY

GOP senators divided on Trump trade pushback: Senate Republicans are negotiating among themselves over how to respond to President Trump’s trade agenda as they brace for new tariffs on the European Union and a trade deal with China that some fear could leave American farmers worse off.

There are divisions over whether to send a stern message to the White House with a tough bill that’s likely to get vetoed — or a more modest proposal that could actually get Trump’s signature and become law.

It was a dilemma that GOP leaders eschewed altogether in the run-up to the 2018 midterm elections, deciding not to advance legislation curbing Trump’s power to impose tariffs for fear an intraparty fight could hurt voter turnout.

This year, however, there is strong support from influential members of the Senate GOP for reining in Trump’s tariff power but disagreement over exactly how to proceed, putting Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in a bind. The Hill’s Alexander Bolton tells us why.

The dynamic:

• Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) says he will introduce legislation in the coming weeks that would strengthen what his office calls “checks and balances between Congress and the executive branch by imposing new consultation and reporting requirements.”
• But Republicans on the Finance panel are divided over how hard to push back against Trump, with two leading members — Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) — advocating for different, competing approaches that Grassley is trying to meld together behind the scenes.  

The proposals:

• Portman has legislation that would require the Department of Defense, instead of the Department of Commerce, to justify the national security concerns invoked to impose new tariffs under Section 232 of the 1962 Trade Expansion Act. It would empower Congress to block them by passing a resolution of disapproval, expanding the check provided in the original trade law, which only applied to action on oil imports.
• Toomey’s bill is tougher. It would give Congress 60 days to approve any proposed tariffs under Section 232. If Congress fails to pass an approval resolution within that period, the president’s proposed tariffs would have no effect. Motions to proceed to those approval resolutions would be privileged in both chambers and could not be filibustered. They would be automatically discharged out of committee after 10 days.

Dems, Trump harden 2020 battle lines on Tax Day: Republicans and Democrats on Monday used Tax Day to drive home their arguments about President Trump’s 2017 law, as millions more Americans are poised to soon find out whether they personally benefited from the tax overhaul.

Trump and Republicans spent the day praising their tax-code rewrite and linked it to growth in the economy and wages.

Democrats, meanwhile, argued that the law has been more beneficial for corporations than for American workers. They highlighted their own tax proposals and pressed the IRS to comply with a formal request from House Democrats for six years of Trump’s tax returns. The Hill’s Naomi Jagoda has more here.

• “We promised that these tax cuts would be rocket fuel for the American economy, and we were absolutely right,” Trump said at a roundtable with business owners and employees in Burnsville, Minn.
• “On this Tax Day, big banks, big pharma and big corporations are celebrating their record windfall and soaring profits from the GOP Tax Scam for the rich,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a statement. “Yet, for millions of hard-working families, Tax Day is not living up to the Republicans’ promises.”
• “It’s great to celebrate Tax Day for the first time when people’s taxes are going down,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.
• “I want to know if the president is paying his fair share,” Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.), a Ways and Means Committee member, told reporters.

GOOD TO KNOW

• Budget watchdogs are raising the alarm about “debt denialism” amid a soaring national debt, which spiked by more than 10 percent since President Trump took office.
• Same-sex partners are almost 75 percent more likely to be denied a loan than heterosexual couples with similar finances, according to a new study.
• Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg said Tuesday that he believes socialism is gaining popularity because “capitalism has let a lot of people down.”
• Beto O’Rourke and his wife appear to have underpaid their taxes in 2013 and 2014 because they improperly claimed the deduction for medical expenses, according to tax returns the former Texas congressman released on Monday.
• The city of Stockton, Calif., has begun piloting a universal basic income (UBI) program for 130 residents over the next 18 months, according to the Los Angeles Times.
• Apple and leading chipmaker Qualcomm have agreed to drop all lawsuits between them, ending a web of legal battles the tech giants have fought on multiple continents for two years.
• An unlikely alliance of free-market libertarians and union-backed activists are creating headaches for Amazon as it eyes an expansion into Nashville, according to The Guardian.

ODDS AND ENDS

• Members of the progressive Tax March group protested outside the IRS building with an inflatable Trump chicken in Washington, D.C., on Monday to demand President Trump release his tax returns.
• The White House is rejecting a request from top House Democrats for information that would shed light on whether President Trump tried to sway the Justice Department into opposing the AT&T-Time Warner merger.