Vance hails Trump’s Fed idea, pushes back on criticism over past words on U.S. families

ATLANTA —  Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance used a round of Sunday news show appearances to disparage the Democratic ticket and promote Donald Trump’s record and second-term plans and defend himself from criticism over past remarks that have become a campaign issue.

The Ohio senator, in a series of taped interviews, said there was merit to Trump’s suggestion that presidents have more control of U.S. monetary policy and kept up the GOP line that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democrats’ vice presidential candidate, had exaggerated his military record.

Vance, who shadowed Vice President Kamala Harris and Walz during their visits to several battleground states last week, was quizzed about abortion and his past comments about American family life, among other topics.

Trump recently suggested that presidents “should have at least a say” on monetary policy set by the Federal Reserve. He did not offer specific proposals.

Curtailing the Fed’s independence from political interference as it determines interest rates would be a fundamental change. Even as he tried to argue that Trump said nothing about taking “direct” control of rates, Vance endorsed Trump’s general idea.

During Vance’s Senate campaign in 2021, he said in a Fox News interview that “we are effectively run in this country via the Democrats,” and referred to them as “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”

He said that included Harris, who has two adult stepchildren, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who is gay and a married father of twins but had no children at the time of Vance’s comment.

Vance also in the past has suggested giving extra votes for people with children.

“It’s not a policy proposal. It’s a thought experiment, right?” he said in a Sunday interview, arguing he was reacting to others’ ideas to lower the voting age.

“Anybody who disagrees with him is anti-child?” Buttigieg countered in a news show appearance. “He seems incapable of talking about a vision for this country in terms of lifting people up. ... It’s always about disparagement.”

Barrow writes for the Associated Press.