The US Senate on Wednesday approved Kevin Warsh as chair of the Federal Reserve, putting the 56-year-old lawyer and financier at the helm as the US central bank grapples with intensifying inflation that may make it hard to push through the interest-rate cuts that President Donald Trump has demanded.
The Republican-majority body had on Tuesday confirmed Warsh to a 14-year term on the Fed’s seven-member Board of Governors. His swearing-in to both positions awaits final White House signatures on paperwork sent by the Senate.
For all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Warsh will take the leadership baton from Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whose term ends on Friday but who will remain a Fed governor. Fed Governor Stephen Miran, currently the central bank’s biggest advocate of rate cuts, will vacate his spot on the board to make room for Warsh. Expected to be in place to chair the Fed’s next meeting June 16 to 17, Warsh joins a central bank whose policymakers are engaged in a vigorous debate on the direction of interest rates.
Several central bankers have argued that the Fed should consider rate hikes, concerned that inflation is broadening even beyond the impact of the Trump administration’s tariffs and the spike in oil prices from the Iran war.
