Senate to Trump on job numbers: Don't shoot the messenger
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
The New York Stock Exchange is seen during afternoon trading on Aug. 1. Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
President Trump doesn't trust the job numbers. Now, senators also have a reason to doubt them.
Why it matters: Trump's decision to fire the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics over weak job numbers sent shockwaves across the Senate.
- "When you don't like the message, fire the messenger," Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said, according to Semafor.
- When asked if she can still trust the numbers, she responded: "No. That's the problem. And when you fire people, it makes you trust them even less."
Driving the news: Democrats responded with outrage over Trump's announcement that he was dismissing Erika L. McEntarfer from the Department of Labor.
- McEntarfer was confirmed 86-8 in January 2024, including a yes vote from then-Sen. JD Vance.
- "Instead of trying to fix the economy, he shoots the messenger," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor.
Yes, but: When asked if Trump's move will undermine faith in job numbers, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) replied: "I don't believe economists half the time anyway."
Reality check: Doctoring job numbers would require a conspiracy across several government departments.
- Government statistics agencies are historically insulated from politics, as Axios' Neil Irwin notes, so they can tally up activity in a $30 trillion economy.
Flashback: President Obama faced accusations from former General Electric CEO Jack Welch that he fixed the job numbers ahead of the 2012 election.
Zoom in: About two hours after Trump announced he would fire McEntarfer, he received some unexpected — and good — news from the Fed.
- One of Biden's appointees, Federal Reserve governor Adriana Kugler, will resign her job next week, the Fed announced.
- That will give Trump an opening to fill this fall.
Zoom out: Embedded in Trump's Truth Social post on firing McEntarfer were some of Trump's customary taunts of Fed chair Jerome Powell, saying he should be put "out to pasture."
- But in a separate post, he called for the central bank's board to "assume control" and lower interest rates on its own.
- Such an ask faces some long odds, even if Trump's new nominee votes to lower rates the way Trump wants them to.
- Wednesday's interest rate vote was 9-2, and while it was the first double dissent since the 1990s, Powell still has the clear majority on his side.
What we're watching: Powell has his detractors in the Senate, but independence is an important principle for many Republican lawmakers.
- That includes retiring Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who joined Trump's Fed field trip last week.
- Tillis could be a key swing vote on the Senate Banking Committee when it considers Powell's successor next year.
— Axios' Stef Kight contributed reporting.
