The Senate Banking Committee is reportedly planning to hold its hearing on Kevin Warsh’s nomination as Federal Reserve chair as soon as the week of April 13, Punchbowl News sources say. The date is described as fluid and depends on Warsh submitting all required paperwork to the committee.
Current Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s term runs through May 15, and he has said he will remain in the role until a successor is confirmed. Scheduling a nomination hearing in mid-April would create a clearer timeline for Warsh’s potential confirmation.
Warsh, 55, previously served on the Fed’s Board of Governors from 2006 to 2011 after a nomination by President George W. Bush. This time he is President Trump’s pick for Fed chair and has advocated for what he calls “regime change” in how the Fed conducts interest-rate policy and balance sheet management. In remarks to CNBC, Warsh criticized the Fed’s hesitancy to cut rates and said the “specter” of the Fed’s inflation-miss has influenced its approach, arguing for a change in the conduct of policy.
The nomination has encountered political resistance. Senator Thom Tillis has indicated he would oppose Fed nominees until a Department of Justice probe into Powell is resolved; the DOJ opened an investigation in January into expenses tied to a multi-year renovation project at Fed office buildings.
Senator Elizabeth Warren has also pushed back, sending a strongly worded letter arguing Warsh learned “nothing” from his earlier Fed tenure, which included the 2008 financial crisis and Great Recession. Warren warned that Warsh would serve as a “rubber stamp for President Trump’s Wall Street First Agenda,” citing his seven years in Morgan Stanley’s mergers and acquisitions unit prior to joining the Fed and accusing him of eagerness to support Wall Street, including taxpayer-assisted megamergers.
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