Kevin Warsh has been formally nominated to succeed Jerome Powell as the next Fed Chair when Powell’s term ends in May.
Warsh’s nomination was forwarded to the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, where it will be taken up by the Senate Banking Committee. Warsh’s nomination as President Donald Trump’s pick was announced on Jan. 30.
The Federal Reserve is overseen by a board of seven members, or “governors,” each of whom is appointed to a 14-year term. Three Fed governors are also nominated by the president to serve as chair, vice chair, and vice chair of supervision of the board.
Each of those nominations is for a four-year term.
Warsh served as a Fed governor from 2006-11, becoming the youngest governor in the bank’s history, The Hill reported. Warsh is a former Morgan Stanley banker and served as the Fed board’s liaison to Wall Street during the 2007-08 financial crisis.
GOP Senator Threatens to Place a Hold on Nomination
He also served as an economic adviser to former President George W. Bush.
Warsh was expected to receive more than enough support from the GOP-controlled Senate to be confirmed with a simple majority vote.
PBS News and other outlets have reported, however, that there is a possibility that Warsh’s nomination could stall in the committee.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, has said he will oppose confirming Warsh until a criminal investigation into Powell is resolved.
On Jan. 11, Powell revealed that the Justice Department had subpoenaed the Fed over his Senate testimony in June about the central bank’s $2.5 billion building renovation project.
Last month, Tillis said that the committee could hold a hearing about Warsh’s nomination, but that he would vote to block confirmation.
If all Democrats on the committee voted against Warsh as well, the nomination wouldn’t pass out of the committee to the full Senate.
Warsh has criticized the Fed’s policies in recent years, including its low interest rate policies following the pandemic, which he said contributed to the nation’s largest inflation spike in four decades in 2021-2022.
Now, Warsh has echoed Trump’s demands for lower rates.
