Tuesday morning, the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee held a confirmation hearing for Kevin Warsh, President Donald Trump’s nominee to succeed Jerome Powell as chair of the Federal Reserve.
Warsh previously served on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, appointed by President George W. Bush in 2006 and remaining until 2011. He has worked in the private sector since his Fed tenure.
In Warsh’s prepared opening statement, he maintained support for the Fed’s independent control over monetary policy, but also said that he does “not believe the operational independence of monetary policy is particularly threatened when elected officials—presidents, senators, or members of the House—state their views on interest rates.” He also argued that Fed independence must extend to the central bank staying out of issues that are not directly tied to its mandate of price stability and maximum employment. Stephen Miran, appointed to the Fed by Trump in 2026, has made similar arguments.
Warsh continued that “Inflation is a choice, and the Fed must take responsibility for it,” suggesting that if confirmed as Fed chair he intends to make bringing down inflation his priority. At the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meetings over the past few months, economic concerns have been split between still higher-than-desired inflation and a soft labor market. At the March 2026 FOMC, members chose to keep interest rates unchanged due to uncertainty surrounding the conflict between the U.S. and Iran.
While Trump himself appointed Powell chair of the Federal Reserve in 2018 during his first presidential term, he has often taken a combative posture with Powell. Trump has publicly called on the Fed to cut interest rates, referring to Powell by the demeaning nickname “Too Late,” even as the Fed has asserted it needs independence from political influence, and members have held the line against the president’s criticisms.
While Powell’s term as Fed chair ends on May 15, his appointment to the Fed Board of Governors is until January 31, 2028. Traditionally, Fed chairs have resigned from the board altogether after their term as chair is up. Powell has said he intends to remain at his post until a successor is confirmed by the Senate; Trump has threatened to fire Powell if he stays past May 15.
While Warsh has denied—including at this hearing—that Trump directed him to cut interest rates should he be confirmed as Fed chair, he did publicly say prior to his nomination that he believes rates should be lower.
How the hearing went
Throughout the hearing, Warsh repeatedly said he intends to be a reformer and tweak ways that inflation might be calculated; he described relying on the core personal consumption expenditure index as only giving a “rough SWAG (Specific Wild Ass Guess)” of inflation, and indicated support for a more forward-looking approach to monetary policy.
In response to questions on whether Trump has ordered him to cut interest rates, Warsh said that “(Trump) not made his opinion on (interest rates) a secret to anybody,” but also said that Trump has never asked him to agree to a certain interest rate policy and that if he had, Warsh would not agree to do so.
Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ)—a potential 2028 presidential candidate who has previously put forth a detailed plan for housing reform—asked Warsh to confirm the president did not ask him to cut interest rates. When Warsh did so, Gallego responded “Someone here is lying, then,” citing a Wall Street Journal interview from December 2025 where Trump said that he pressed Warsh on supporting interest rate cuts and Warsh agreed to them.
Warsh refuted that either he or Trump had lied about this, instead claiming the WSJ “needs better sources or better journalistic standards.” Gallego asked if Warsh had requested a correction upon seeing the article. Warsh didn’t say he had but said he sees many things reported in newspapers he finds worthy of correction.
During questioning by Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE), Warsh argued his view of inflation is that it comes about when the government “spends too much” and the Federal Reserve in turn prints too much currency. When questioned by Senator Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-NV), Warsh disputed claims that tariffs had contributed substantially to inflation, and used this point to argue for inflation reading models that prioritize underlying trends rather than long-term boosts. Current members of the Fed board have also described the inflation from tariffs as more of a one-off boost rather than a sustained one.
While he did not explicitly say he intends to cut interest rates, Warsh maintained setting interest rates is the best way for the Fed to address economic challenges for the widest range of Americans rather than altering its balance sheet. Recurring topics of questioning during the hearing were Warsh’s independence from Trump, the economic impact of AI and Warsh’s own transparency about his finances.
In his opening statement, chairman Tim Scott (R-SC) framed Warsh’s nomination and the economy he will be operating under in terms of “kitchen table” issues, referencing the supposed failure of “Bidenomics” that drove inflation higher and praising the Big Beautiful Bill and its tax reforms passed in 2025; “Bidenomics made prices go up, and paychecks have not caught up,” Scott claimed.
Scott also echoed Warsh and Miran’s claims that the Fed’s climate initiatives, and backing away from them when Trump took office, suggests “the Federal Reserve appeared to move with the political winds.” Scott further cited Warsh’s experience on the Fed board during the 2008 financial crisis as a sign he has the experience to be chair.
Ranking Democratic member Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) framed Warsh’s past Fed experience in a different light, claiming that he ignored warnings of the boiling subprime mortgage crisis and once the financial crisis hit, he had acted as “Wall Street’s personal liaison on the Fed board.”
In response to Warsh’s opening statement claim that elected officials can weigh in on interest rates, Warren argued that Trump’s conduct goes beyond that and is rather “repeatedly and illegally (attempting) to take over the Fed,” citing charges brought against Powell and Lisa Cook by the Trump administration as an effective threat to the entire Fed board.
As reported in advance by the Wall Street Journal, Democratic senators argued during the hearing that Warsh has not met the standard of transparency for a Fed nominee. In April 2026, Warsh disclosed over $100 million in personal wealth tied to a “Juggernaut Fund,” but has not disclosed the nature of the fund’s investments.
During the hearing, Warren asked Warsh if the fund is invested in companies affiliated with Trump, companies that have facilitated money laundering, companies controlled by China or companies that had acted as “financial vehicles” to assist disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. Warsh first responded to Warren’s preamble about past Fed scandals and the need for credibility, saying he had received approval from the Office of Government Ethics, and said he was committing to divest from these assets before taking the oath of office. But he refused to say where the fund is invested, prompting heated pressing from Warren, who suggested his decisions will be influenced by where that money came from.
Warren continued to question Warsh’s ability to act as an independent Fed chair, citing a quote by Trump to Fox Business that interest rates will fall “when Kevin gets in.” Warsh subsequently refused to answer a question from Warren about if Trump lost the 2020 election, only saying the Senate certified the results of the election.
Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) also questioned Warsh’s independence from the executive branch, noting Warsh was regarded as a hawk on interest rates during his first Fed term, but now he’s in favor of interest rates when it aligns with Trump’s priorities.
Senator Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) asked Warsh about the ongoing investigation into Powell over renovations to the Fed’s headquarters and if Warsh disagreed with the investigation. Warsh said the case is pending before the courts, whose judgment he trusts, and didn’t weigh in personally.
When Alsobrooks asked about Warsh’s views on the investigation into Cook, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s (a Trump appointee) statement during oral arguments that it could weaken Fed independence if Cook was removed, Warsh answered that Fed independence “means everything to (him).” When Alsobrooks pointed to Trump’s claims he would fire Powell on May 15 if Warsh hasn’t been confirmed to succeed him, and asked if such an act would be illegal, Warsh answered he does not have enough legal experience to define how the relevant law applies to the Federal Reserve.
