Fed chair looks for backup from Congress amid Trump onslaught

[DonViejo]

By Donna Borak and Haley Byrd, CNN

Updated 7:56 AM ET, Wed July 10, 2019

Washington (CNN)Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is one of President Donald Trump's favorite targets, but he's cultivated an army of fans at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue.

A review by CNN of Powell's public calendars for the first 16 months of his tenure as chairman shows he's held more than 100 meetings with individual lawmakers, earning a reputation for being unusually accessible. He's also often held phone calls and attended the occasional dinner, including one hosted by Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee last November with a group of 10 bipartisan lawmakers, including Sens. Richard Shelby of Alabama, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Michael Bennet of Colorado and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire.

On February 13, he also met with the Republican members of the Senate Banking Committee for 45 minutes, and then held individual one-on-one meetings for the rest of the afternoon with Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo, the chairman of the panel, and Sens. Tina Smith of Minnesota and Martha McSally of Arizona, who also sit on the committee.

That investment has paid off as congressional leaders from both parties rally behind the Trump appointee, defending him as well as the institution he represents from the kind of scorn Trump has dumped on other key hires -- most notably former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/10/politics/federal-reserve-jerome-powell-congress-support/index.html