Trump White House Withdraws Nomination for Controversial BLS Pick After GOP Senators Decline to Meet With Him
President Donald Trump withdrew his controversial choice for the commissioner at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Ej Antoni, after it became obvious that he had not had the support of enough Republican senators.
Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) refused to meet Antoni before her hearing not yet treated before the Senate, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, on which the two senators are, according to a CNN report. It is common for candidates to meet the staff of the two parties within the aid committee before their confirmation. The refusal of Collins and Murkowski to sit with Antoni aroused problems for the success of his candidacy. Antoni would have needed the support of each republican senator on the aid committee to be confirmed.
The expression of the White House intervened after a multitude of raised eyebrows and total alarm to the sound of economists, researchers and more moderate democratic republican senators. They were first disturbed after Trump dismissed the former BLS chief, Erika Mcentarfer, following a federal report on jobs showing a drop in the economy. Murkowski, as well as the Senators of GOP Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Thom Tillis (R-R-NC) and Rand Paul (R-KY), each expressed their concern after the dismissal of Mcentarfer.
When Trump named Antoni, economists through the political spectrum rose up against the candidate as an underemployed partisan hack. Antoni obtained his doctorate in economics just five years ago and had limited published work.
Experts shivered the suggestions of the conservative economist to stop the monthly job report and replace it with a less current survey, for example.
But the death kill, perhaps, came after a CNN Kfile report exposed Antoni as the owner of an X account now deleted which has published racist, sexist, homophobic, sexually offensive and generally unpleasant content.
After the withdrawal, the White House in a statement praised Antoni and said Trump will soon announce a new candidate, reports CNN.
“Dr. EJ Antoni is a brilliant economist and an American patriot who will continue to do a good job in the name of our big country,” said a White House official. “President Trump is committed to repairing long -standing failures from the BL who have undergone public confidence in critical economic data.”
In a statement to CNN, Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, said that Antoni will remain an economist in chief of the organization.
“It is undeniable that BLS needs reform and EJ was the right man for work,” said Roberts.
The BLS is currently managed by William J. Wiatrowski, the deputy commissioner, who acts as an acting commissioner.
