Kevin Warsh was confirmed Wednesday as the next Federal Reserve chair, taking over the central bank at a time when President Donald Trump is pushing for lower interest rates even as fresh inflation data complicates the case for cuts.
In the most divisive vote ever for a Fed chair, Warsh, 56, won confirmation to take over for Jerome Powell, who has served in the top leadership position since 2018 and whose term will expire Friday.
The Senate voted 54-45 to confirm Warsh, ending a monthslong saga that began in the summer of 2025 and included an extensive search for Powell’s successor. The vote was almost completely along party lines, with only Pennsylvania Democrat Sen. John Fetterman crossing over to vote for Warsh, who becomes the 11th Fed chair of the modern banking era.
Powell will stay on at the Fed as he has two years left in his term as governor. He said last month that he will remain at least until an investigation renovation at the Fed’s headquarters is complete. No other Fed chair has returned to the board in nearly 80 years.
Trump has made no secret that he expects Warsh to lower rates after having lashed out repeatedly at Powell for monetary policy the president has felt was too restrictive. Warsh was part of a derby that included nearly a dozen candidates at one point, including current Governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman.
The confirmation comes, however, following separate reports this week showing inflation well above the Fed’s 2% target and pipeline pressures accelerating at their highest levels in more than three years. Markets have been scaling back expectations for rate cuts are even pricing in a chance of an increase later this year.
Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., praised the Fed’s decision and Warsh’s inflation-fighting credentials.
“Chairman Warsh has repeatedly emphasized the importance of placing affordability and price stability at the center of our economic agenda,” Hill said in a statement. “His commitment to disciplined monetary policy will help restore confidence in our economy and support long-term prosperity.”
Warsh could not be reached for comment.
This will be Warsh’s second stint at the Fed.
During his first run, he served from 2006-11, a time during which Fed officials initially dismissed dangers from the subprime mortgage meltdown that led to the global financial crisis, then implemented a historic set of policies aimed at rescuing the economy. Part of those rescue endeavors included an unprecedented expansion of asset purchases that sent the Fed’s balance sheet past $4 trillion, a program known as quantitative easing that Warsh argued then had gone too far.
Since leaving the Fed, Warsh has been a consistent critic of monetary policy and last year, in a CNBC interview, called for “regime change” at the central bank. During the period, he’s been a lecturer at the Stanford School of Business and has served on various boards of directors.
Warsh takes the place of Stephen Miran on the Fed board, who was appointed to governor in September 2025 to fill the few months left on the unexpired term of Adriana Kugler, who resigned unexpectedly in August.
Miran has dissented from each of the Federal Open Market Committee’s votes since taking the seat. When the committee voted to cut by a quarter percentage point at each of last three meetings in 2025, Miran voiced support for a larger half-point cut. This year, he’s opposed votes to keep the federal funds rate steady, arguing for quarter-point reductions.
Warsh’s first meeting as chair of the FOMC is scheduled for June 16-17.
He also will be the wealthiest Fed chair ever, with holdings well north of $100 million. As Fed chair, he’ll have to divest himself many of his investments under a strict new policy implemented since disclosures of questionable trading practices among top officials.
—Rep. French Hill is from Arkansas. An earlier version misstated the state.