Senate Confirms Kevin Warsh As Fed Chair In Big Win For Trump

The Senate confirmed Kevin Warsh as chairman of the Federal Reserve on Wednesday in a 54-45 vote. Warsh will officially take over the position on Friday after Jerome Powell’s term as Fed chair concludes. 

The confirmation comes after Powell has faced months of pressure from President Donald Trump, as Powell has been hesitant to lower interest rates. Democratic Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman was the only senator to cross party lines and vote for President Trump’s pick to lead the central bank.

While Warsh takes over as Fed chair, Powell will remain on the board as a governor. Powell’s term as Fed governor continues until 2028. 

Warsh’s confirmation didn’t come easy. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) blocked Warsh’s path through the Senate Banking Committee for months, refusing to move any Fed nominees while the Department of Justice was criminally investigating Powell over the $2.5 billion renovation of the Federal Reserve building. The DOJ ultimately dropped the investigation, causing Tillis to drop his hold. 

Warsh takes the helm of the central bank after previously serving as a Fed governor from 2006 to 2011, an appointment made by President George W. Bush. He became the youngest Fed governor in history at 35 and became well known as a fiscal hawk.

“We have the largest, most robust economy in the world. We have the deepest, most liquid financial markets. And the dollar is the world’s reserve currency, bestowing key advantages upon us. But, none of this is our birthright. It must be earned, and re-earned,” Warsh said in a 2010 speech.

Warsh left the Fed in 2011 to join the board of UPS and teach Economics at the Hoover Institution. 

Warsh inherits a Federal Reserve being pulled in multiple directions. President Trump continues to call for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, but inflation is still on the rise amid tensions with Iran. After April’s hotter-than-expected inflation report, chances of a rate cut in 2026 declined.

Warsh criticized the central bank’s hesitancy to cut rates, but many people still view him as a hawk on inflation. In December, the chief economist of Deutsche Bank said that “although Warsh has argued for lower rates recently, we do not view him as structurally dovish.”

Warsh told Congress he plans on shrinking the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet which holds more than $6 trillion in U.S. government bonds and mortgage-backed securities. Warsh argues that by reducing the bank’s holdings will allow officials to lower interest rates. 

He also plans to keep the Fed focused on its core mandate of maximizing unemployment and keeping inflation at 2%. Warsh says the central bank has drifted from that core mission and believes that decisions on which assets the central bank buys are better left to the Treasury Department.