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President Trump formally nominated Kevin Warsh to be chair of the Federal Reserve Board on Wednesday, teeing up his replacement for Fed Chair Jerome Powell.
The president submitted Warsh’s nomination to serve as Fed chair, along with a separate nomination to serve a 14-year term on the Fed board.
The Fed is overseen by a board of seven members, or “governors,” each of whom his appointed to a term of 14 years. 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 which for a four-year term.
Warsh previously served as a Fed governor from 2006-11, becoming the youngest governor in the bank’s history. A former Morgan Stanley banker, Warsh served as the Fed board’s liason to Wall Street during the 2007-08 financial crisis. He also served as an economic adviser to former President George W. Bush.
A frontrunner for the Fed nomination since Trump’s election, Warsh was expected to receive more than enough support from the GOP-controlled Senate to be confirmed with a simple majority vote.
But Republican Sens. Thom Tillis (N.C.) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) have vowed to oppose Warsh until the Justice Department resolves its probe into Powell and the Fed’s handling of building renovations at its Washington, D.C., headquarters.
Tillis, who is retiring, could also use his perch on the Senate Banking Committee to hinder Trump’s Fed nominees from being approved by the panel, which is a key procedural step on the way to a full Senate confirmation vote.
Senate GOP leadership may be able to override Tillis and Murkowski to confirm Warsh before Powell’s term as chair ends in May. Fed officials have already voted to allow Powell to serve as acting chair of the Fed board until Warsh’s confirmation if it comes after the end of the current chair’s term.
Trump announced his intention to nominate Warsh in January, saying he had “no doubt that he will go down as one of the GREAT Fed Chairmen, maybe the best.”
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