WASHINGTON, Feb 13 (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate Banking Committee has agreed to move forward with confirmation hearings for Kevin Warsh, President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Federal Reserve, despite a senator’s obstruction of the nomination, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Friday.
“I think it’s important that we get to the hearings. Chairman (Jerome) Powell’s term ends in mid-May, and anyone who cares about the integrity and independence of the Fed is going to want 🏽 to see continuity with Kevin Warsh,” Bessent told CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box’ .
Republican congressman Thom Tillis has declared his support for Warsh’s candidacy, but said he will hold off on voting on any Fed nominee while the Justice Department continues to investigate Powell over a major central bank reform project that ran over budget.
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Bessent said he proposed during a meeting with Republican senators on Tuesday that the commission conduct its own investigation into the renovation of the Fed’s Washington headquarters, but declined to comment on whether that could replace the Justice Department’s investigation and lead Tillis to release the blockade.
Commission Chairman Tim Scott said he did not believe Powell committed a crime.
Bessent noted that Scott, who represents his home state of South Carolina, had said he believed Powell was ‘guilty of one thing, incompetence, and this construction project is out of control, way over budget.’
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Last month, Powell revealed the criminal investigation into his statements to the Senate regarding Fed reforms, describing it as part of the Trump administration’s “continuing threats and pressure” for the Fed to lower interest rates.
On Thursday, Tillis told reporters that his restriction on Fed appointments remains in effect “until the investigation is complete.”
“It goes one of two ways: either they close the investigation, saying there is nothing concrete, or they give me convincing information that proves I was wrong,” Tillis said.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal, Susan Heavey and David Morgan)
