Trump pick for Fed Reserve chairman advances to final vote

· UPI

April 29 (UPI) -- Kevin Warsh, President Donald Trump's pick for chairman of the Federal Reserve, cleared another hurdle Wednesday as the Senate banking committee voted to send his nomination to a final confirmation vote.

The vote came after Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., Carolina, dropped his block of Warsh's nomination. Tillis said he'd block any nominee until the Justice Department ended its investigation of outgoing Chairman Jerome Powell. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced Friday that she'd drop that investigation.

The committee vote of 13-11 was fully along party lines and sends the nomination to the Republican-controlled Senate, where it will almost certainly be approved, The Washington Post reported.

Warsh served as a governor at the Federal Reserve from 2006 to 2011. He has said that he will resign from several positions, including as a financial adviser to investor Stanley Druckenmiller, if he is confirmed.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., the committee's ranking member, said that the vote was the first fully partisan vote on a Fed chairman, CNBC reported. Warren warned that Warsh's confirmation would damage the Federal Reserve's independence.

"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.

Also Wednesday, the Fed again held interest rates steady, a continued approach that has caused Trump to criticize Powell and threaten to fire him several times. Powell (a Trump appointee) has said that the Justice Department investigation into him, allegedly on costs for a central bank headquarters renovation, is targeting him because of the Fed's disinclination to follow Trump orders on interest rates.

Powell on Wednesday said he plans to stay on as a Fed governor for the remaining two years after his term as chairman ends next month.

He said Trump's criticism has been "unprecedented in our 113-year history," CNBC reported.

"I worry that these attacks are battering the institution and putting at risk the thing that really matters to the public, which is the ability to conduct monetary policies without taking into consideration political factors," Powell said. "It is so important for our economy, for the people that we serve, that they can depend, over time, on a central bank that operates that way, free of political influence."

The Senate will likely vote on Warsh's appointment the week of May 11. Powell's term ends May 15.

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