Nomination of Warsh for Federal Reserve Chairman and Member

The nomination of Kevin Warsh to serve as chair and governor of the Federal Reserve Board. Before I give my opening comments, I'm gonna ch- turn to our ranking member for some opening comments.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we should not be voting today on Kevin Warsh's nomination to lead the Federal Reserve. The Trump economy is in real trouble. Inflation is up, job creation is down, the stink of stag- Deflation is in the air, and President Trump is getting desperate. 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. Trump has not been subtle about his takeover. He's threatened to fire the Fed chair. He's actually tried to fire a Fed governor. And he's started not one, but two. two bogus criminal investigations to push them out. When this committee refused to move on his new nominee under such circumstances, US Attorney Junette Barrow announced that she would, quote, close the bogus criminal investigation into Fed Chair Powell while the Federal Reserve Inspector takes up the inquiry. This was the trigger for getting to today's mark-up. Now, I understand

Mm-hmm.

Don't take it from me. Take it from President Trump, who said the investigation is quote, not dropped. Or, take it from the President's spokeswoman, woman who said quote, " the investigation still continues." Or take it from US Attorney Pirro who said that she quote, " will not hesitate to restart a criminal investigation." Or take it from Acting Attorney General Todd Blanch who said quote, " this is an investigation so I'm not going to prejudge what the investigation will find and say there's absolutely going to be charges or absolutely

Without objection.

President Trump is also still trying to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook, taking it all the way to the United States Supreme Court. And the DOJ's reported criminal probe against her is ongoing. These are uniquely dangerous circumstances to advance any Fed chair nominee. But Mr. is uniquely an unfit candidate. He had a catastrophic tenure at a, as a Fed governor before, during and after the two thousand eight financial crisis. Despite bailing out Wall Street and selling out American families, he has said repeatedly he has no regrets. If confirmed, he will enter the office with more than a hundred million dollars in secret financial assets. He won't even disclose whether his plan to develop relies on a billionaire investor cutting him a massive check. At his hearing last week, Mister Warsh dug the hole deeper. He had a chance to demonstrate just a teeny bit of independence from Mister Trump and he just couldn't do it. Mister Warsh is a Trump sock puppet who is so cowed by the president that he could not even say that Donald Trump lost the twenty twenty election. Members of this committee who vote for Mister Warsh

Thank you. This committee will come to order. We now have a quorum. I call the committee uh into executive session. We will now move to an end block on Mr. Kevin Warsh to be a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve for a term expiring twenty forty

and Chairman for a term of four years.

That's right.

The Clerk will call the roll.

The Chairman?

Aye.

Aye. Mister Crapo? Aye. Mister Rounds? Aye. Mister Tillis? Aye. Mister Kennedy? Aye. Mister Haggerty?

Haggerty's aye.

Miss Lummis? Aye. Misses Britt? Aye.

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Miss Gortaz Masto. No by proxy. Miss Smith. Uh no by proxy. Mister Warnock. No. Mister Kim. No by proxy. Mister Gallego. No by proxy. Miss Blount Rochester. No by proxy. Miss Alsobrooks. No by proxy. Mister Chairman, the vote is thirteen in favor and eleven opposed. Sen- Senator Tillis is now recognized.

I don't wanna uh delay things. Look, I uh I just disagree with everything the ranking member had to say. Uh everybody, it's no secret that the reason that uh Mister Warsh's nomination could have been held up is because of my concern with the investigation. I wanna thank the Department of Justice for the assurances that they gave me. They are going through with the appeal. The appeal has no impact on reopening the investi investigation.

They have a a matter that they wanna settle, which is fine with me. I've got um confidence that this investigation is over, that Horowitz, who I believe is one of the best Inspector Generals in the whole of government is going to study this. If he has referral power, if he believes that there was criminal activity, then he would refer it. But the fact of the matter is this was based on two minutes of testimony, it was not criminal. Seven witnesses on this committee agreed with it, it's done, and I think

that um Senator Warren, I get that she wants to score some political points, but she is flatly wrong on every point she just tried to make. Thank you.

Yes, Sarah. I reserve the right to provide some comments and perspective as well as color on the comments uh as well. Uh Kevin Warsh's leadership is absolutely essential now at the Federal Reserve than ever before. Frankly, his time as a former governor of the Federal Reserve during the crisis, make some battle tested and ready to serve and not only serve but to lead. I think it's incredibly important that we break the bind of Bidenomics and the households of Americans all across this nation. Let us never forget that it was the Biden administration that took inflation to nine percent and interest rates followed. Ninety percent. And as a result, we find ourselves in an economy that is actually improving because the American people have the good conscience to change leadership of this nation to President Trump and as a result we find ourselves now in economy that is improving. But let's not be cute about it. Digging out of the hole created by Bidenomics will take time. And that's what we need. We need a federal reserve that is responsive to the needs of the American families, more than the political

Thank you very much, brother chair. Um,

I I I

I oppose Mister Walsher's nomination today. And it comes at a critical time.

Thank you, Bill. Appreciate it.

Which is why uh today's nomination is critically important. It is a nomination that has been tainted by the real and persistent threats that President Trump has made to members of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. The independence of the Fed is foundational to our system. Mister Walsh is correct that presidents and political leaders have previously called on the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates but this is not just about interest rates. President Trump's actions, including vicious attacks on current Chair Jerome Powell as well as his illegal attempt to fire Governor Lisa Cook Lisa Cook should give all of us pause and deep concern. And yes, the president continues to threaten to illegally fire Chair Powell. This is not normal and any effort to characterize it as such is blatantly false. We are not dealing with business as usual. These are not normal times. During last week's hearing we were limited to just five minutes of questioning, and the chair encouraged me and others to submit additional written questions for the record, which I did, with an open mind to this nomination and with the hope that Mr. Warsh would use this opportunity to provide us and the American people with more clarity into how he views the Fed's dual mandate, Fed independence, and the state of the American economy, particularly when it comes to maximizing employment and making sure folks can afford to provide for their families. The written answers, I and others on this committee got back were so woefully insufficient that I was left wondering if Mister Warsh even read our questions. Did he take this process seriously? I wanna read just one example. I asked quote "If President Trump or any future president attempts to unlawfully fire you without cause, would you leave?" would you leave the Federal Reserve?" His response, quote, "I will not answer hypothetical questions of this nature." That was his answer. Well, this isn't a hypothetical question. In fact, the president attempted to fire Governor Cook. This in the past year. And the president has repeatedly mused about firing Chair Powell because he won't bend to his interest rate demands doing so as recently as two weeks ago, and Mister Warr says he won't answer hypothetical questions. These are the sorts of answers that matter when looking at the future of the Fed and whether the body remains an independent steward of the American economy, which matters to millions of families all across this country, even as they're trying to make their lives work in this tough Trump economy. America's markets are the envy of the world, Investors flock to the United States in large part because they trust that the Federal Reserve Board is free from political influence and political pressure. And working families in Georgia and across the country struggling in this Trump economy deserve to know that the Fed is on their side, on their side, maximizing their chances to keep a good paying job and keeping their lives affordable, not on the side of the President's poll numbers or his political concerns as we approach the midterm. Fed independence is not theoretical. It matters to the everyday lives of working families. And for that reason, I vote no. Thank you, Mister Chair.

Yes, sir. Thank you. The ayes have it. The nominations are hereby ordered, reported favorably to the full Senate. Without any further statements, the executive session is now adjourned.