The U.S. Senate is scheduled to hold two roll-call votes at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday — first to confirm Kevin Warsh to a 14-year term on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, then to begin the separate confirmation process for his concurrent four-year term as Fed chair. The votes follow Monday's 49-44 cloture motion that cleared the final procedural barrier, putting Warsh on track to be sworn in before Jerome Powell's term as chair expires on Friday, May 15. Only two Democrats crossed the aisle on the cloture vote: Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware.
Warsh, 55, previously served on the Fed's Board of Governors from 2006 to 2011, where he developed a reputation as an inflation hawk. His return to the central bank marks the most consequential leadership transition at the Fed in two decades — and the most politically fraught. The Senate Banking Committee's 13-11 party-line vote to advance his nomination on April 29 was, as Sen. Elizabeth Warren noted in a floor statement, the first fully partisan confirmation of a Fed chair nominee in the committee's history.
A Nomination Built on Tillis's Ultimatum
Warsh's path to the floor was anything but routine. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., a key Banking Committee member, refused to advance any Fed nominee while the Justice Department was pursuing what he called an 'ill-advised criminal investigation' into Powell, ostensibly focused on cost overruns at the Fed's Washington headquarters. The probe was widely read as an administration pressure campaign on monetary policy. Federal prosecutors ultimately dropped the investigation in April, and U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro — who had announced its end — added that she would relaunch a criminal inquiry 'should the facts warrant doing so,' a caveat that Sen. Warren said 'leaves the door wide open' for future interference.
Tillis cast the deciding vote in committee after the DOJ dropped the probe, telling colleagues that Warren 'is flatly wrong on every point she just tried to make.' His reversal, while pivotal, left a trail of institutional unease. Powell, who said he will remain on the board through 2028 in part because of uncertainty about whether the DOJ investigation could be revived, told reporters after the April 29 rate-setting meeting: 'When Kevin Warsh is confirmed and sworn in, he will be that chair. I plan to keep a low profile as a governor.'
Warsh's Vision and the Pressure on Rates
Warsh has described his agenda as 'regime change' at the Fed, including tighter coordination between the central bank and the Treasury on non-monetary policies and a course toward a smaller balance sheet. On the question most immediately pressing to markets — interest rates — he has taken a measured line. The Fed held its policy rate in the 3.50%-3.75% range at its most recent meeting, with three governors dissenting in favor of openness to a possible hike. Trump has said publicly that he expects Warsh to cut rates; Warsh told the Banking Committee he has made no such promises. The Fed's first meeting under a possible Chair Warsh is scheduled for June 16-17, a date that Wall Street is already circling.
Former World Bank governor Yerbol Orynbayev told Al Jazeera that 'the noise surrounding the independence of the central bank has somewhat quietened' since the DOJ probe was dropped, though Democratic critics say the threat has not truly receded. The confirmation, if it proceeds as expected Tuesday, will close one chapter of the Trump administration's sustained effort to reshape the Fed — and open a new one, with Warsh in the chair and the June rate decision already looming.
