Senate Republicans moved closer to installing Kevin Warsh as the next Federal Reserve chairman after Sen. Thom Tillis said Sunday he would end his weeks-long blockade of the nomination.
Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, had refused to advance Warsh or any other Fed nominee while the Justice Department pursued a criminal investigation into current Chairman Jerome Powell over cost overruns in a renovation of the central bank’s headquarters. Critics on both sides of the aisle had called the probe politically motivated.
The impasse broke Friday when Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, announced the Justice Department was dropping the matter—though she reserved the right to reopen it. That proved enough for Tillis, who told NBC’s “Meet the Press” he was satisfied the investigation had fully concluded and that the department wasn’t being weaponized against Fed independence.
The Senate Banking Committee, where Republicans hold a 13-to-11 edge, is expected to vote Wednesday to send the nomination to the full Senate floor. Tillis’s opposition had effectively frozen the committee, making confirmation before Chairman Powell’s May 15 term expiration impossible without his support.
Warsh, a former Fed governor who served from 2006 to 2011, has broad Republican backing but has drawn sharp criticism from Senate Democrats, who have claimed, without evidence, that he would bow to President Trump’s persistent demands for lower interest rates.
His confirmation would cap a turbulent stretch for the central bank. The administration last year attempted to remove sitting governor Lisa Cook—a case now before the Supreme Court—and Trump has threatened to fire Powell should he remain at the Fed as a governor after stepping down as chair. Powell’s term on the board doesn’t expire until 2028, and he hasn’t said publicly whether he intends to stay.
Powell has said he would leave only once the investigation is concluded with finality and transparency. Pirro’s statement said the matter would be referred to the Fed’s inspector general, which has been reviewing it since July.
Powell is likely to face questions about his plans at a press conference following this week’s policy meeting, where the Fed is widely expected to hold rates steady as officials weigh the economic fallout from the ongoing conflict in Iran.
Tillis dismissed suggestions that the administration might find other avenues to pressure Powell, noting that the investigation had backfired by delaying the very confirmation the White House wanted. Without the probe, he said, Warsh would already be confirmed.
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