Kevin Warsh moves one step closer to becoming next Fed chair

Kevin Warsh's nomination to serve as the next Federal Reserve chair took a big step forward on Wednesday after a key committee voted to advance his nomination after a senator lifted his opposition. Members of the Senate Banking Committee voted 13-11 to send Warsh's nomination to the full Senate for a confirmation vote that could occur soon. Warsh, a former Federal Reserve governor who served at the central bank from 2006 to 2011, was nominated to succeed current Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whose term as chairman ends on May 15, 2026. The nomination was held up after Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., vowed to block Warsh's nomination despite supporting it because of the Justice Department's investigation into Powell's testimony on the Fed's costly renovation project, which he viewed as politically motivated. FED EXPECTED TO HOLD RATES AS POWELL ERA NEARS END WITH WARSH ON DECK Tillis argued the probe undermined the independence of the central bank, and the DOJ relented as U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro closed her office's investigation on Friday, with the Fed's inspector general, Michael Horowitz, taking it over. Tillis said the probe was a "serious threat to the Fed's independence, and it needed to end before I could support Kevin Warsh's confirmation." Democrats opposed Warsh's nomination, with Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., saying on Wednesday that he "will bring the president one step closer to completing his illegal attempt to seize control of the Fed and artificially juice the economy." Warren also criticized Warsh as a "uniquely unfit candidate" over his previous tenure as a Fed governor. She added that at his hearing, "Mr. Warsh dug the hole deeper. He had a chance to demonstrate just a teeny bit of independence from Mr. Trump, and he just couldn't do it. Mr. Warsh is a sock puppet who is so cowed by the president that he could not even say that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election." "Look, I just disagree with everything the ranking member had to say," Tillis said after the vote in response to Warren's comments.