The Senate Banking Committee is reportedly considering holding its hearing on the nomination of Kevin Warsh to chair the Federal Reserve as early as the week of April 13, according to a Punchbowl News report citing two sources familiar with the matter.
In a report published Sunday, Punchbowl’s sources said the hearing date was “fluid” and the final deadline depended on Warsh submitting all of its documents to the banking committee.
Current Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s term is set to end on May 15, but he has previously said he will remain chairman until his successor is officially confirmed. A nomination hearing in mid-April will help chart a more visible path to Warsh’s successful confirmation.
Warsh wants to push for change at the Fed
Warsh’s first stint at the Fed was between 2006 and 2011, when he served on the Board of Governors after being appointed by former President George W. Bush.
This time, Warsh is tapped for the top job, and the 55-year-old said he would push for “regime change” in how the Fed conducts interest rate policy and balance sheet management.
“Their hesitation to cut rates, I think, is actually…a real indictment on them,” Warsh told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” in July of last year, adding:
“The specter of their failure on inflation stuck in their minds. So one of the reasons why the president, I think, is right to put pressure on the Fed publicly is that we need a regime change in the conduct of our policy.”
However, Warsh’s nomination was met with political resistance. Senator Thom Tillis has pledged not to vote for any Fed nominee and will attempt to block the nomination until a Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation into Powell is resolved.
In January, the DOJ opened an investigation into Powell over spending related to a multi-year renovation project at the Fed’s office buildings.
Trump’s choice for Fed chair also faced backlash from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who sent a strongly worded letter to Warsh last Wednesday.
Senator Warren accused Warsh of having “learned nothing” from his “failures” during his previous tenure at the Fed, which included the 2008 financial crisis and the Great Recession.
Warren also said Warsh would ultimately serve as a “buffer to President Trump’s Wall Street First agenda.”
“Your eagerness to bail out Wall Street, including through taxpayer-funded megamergers, was not surprising, given the seven years you spent as Morgan Stanley’s executive mergers and acquisitions chief before joining the George W. Bush administration,” Warren said.