The Senate banking committee on Wednesday voted to advance Kevin Warsh’s nomination to lead the Federal Reserve, teeing up President Donald Trump’s pick for a final confirmation vote in the Republican-controlled Senate.
The vote fell along party lines, with all 13 Republican members voting in favor of the nominee and all 11 Democrats voting against him.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., the banking panel’s ranking member, slammed Warsh before the vote, warning that his confirmation would erode the central bank’s independence from the executive branch.
“The Trump economy is in real trouble. Inflation is up, job creation is down. The stink of stagflation is in the air, and President Trump is getting desperate,” Warren said.
“A vote today by this committee to advance Mr. Warsh will bring the president one step closer to completing his illegal attempt to seize control of the Fed and to artificially juice the economy,” she said.
Warsh cleared the hurdle, as expected, hours before the Fed was set to deliver its latest decision on interest rates — possibly for the last time under the current chair, Jerome Powell.
The central bank is likely to maintain its wait-and-see strategy, as sticky inflation, a seemingly stable labor market and Iran-war-related price shocks keep the prospect of further rate cuts at arm’s length.
The Fed’s cautious approach has been a main source of friction between Trump and Powell, who has faced a near-constant barrage of criticism over his refusal to slash rates as much or as quickly as the president wants.
Critics, and Powell himself, say the pressure campaign went beyond rhetoric.
Kevin Warsh, U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee for Chair of the Federal Reserve, arrives for his Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs confirmation hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on April 21, 2026 in Washington, DC.
Andrew Harnik | Getty Images
The Department of Justice launched a criminal investigation into Powell and the Fed, purportedly focused on cost overruns associated with a multibillion-dollar renovation of the central bank’s Washington headquarters. Powell, in a statement revealing the investigation in January, accused the administration of targeting him because of the Fed’s decisions on interest rates.
The probe threatened Warsh’s chances: Banking committee member Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., vowed to block Trump’s nominee unless the DOJ abandoned its efforts.
Trump had openly supported the investigation, being led by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, even after a federal judge tripped up her efforts by blocking the issuance of grand jury subpoenas.
Pirro had vowed to appeal as recently as last Wednesday — but two days later, she suddenly announced that the DOJ would drop the probe.
Tillis, in turn, said he would no longer oppose Warsh’s nomination, all but assuring Trump’s pick would move forward.
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