Sen. Thom Tillis said Tuesday that he fully supports Kevin Warsh’s nomination to be the next Federal Reserve chair, but will continue to block confirmation until the Justice Department drops its investigation into current Chairman Jerome Powell.
The North Carolina Republican has the power to derail Mr. Warsh’s nomination. For Mr. Warsh to advance, he must earn a majority of votes on the Senate Banking Committee, which is composed of 13 Republicans and 11 Democrats.
If Mr. Tillis votes against the nominee, the panel would be evenly split at 12-12, and Mr. Warsh’s nomination would fail.
Mr. Tillis made it clear that he backs Mr. Warsh, but can’t move forward until the Justice Department ditches its criminal investigation tied to Mr. Powell’s multi-billion-dollar renovation of the Fed’s headquarters. He voiced confidence that Mr. Warsh will ensure the Fed remains independent from President Trump’s push to lower interest rates.
“If anybody thinks a president can appoint somebody and you unilaterally can control things, you’re going to be an unsuccessful chair, if history is any guide,” Mr. Tillis said during Mr. Warsh’s confirmation hearing. “And you’ve served under some of the best, so I know you’re going to do it right.”
“Let’s get rid of this investigation so I can support your confirmation,” he said.
Mr. Tillis spent most of his allotted five minutes criticizing the Powell investigation and debunking allegations made by Mr. Trump and others against the Fed chairman. He called the renovation cost overruns — which are the central focus of the Justice Department probe — “unfortunate” but also “legitimate,” noting structural issues with the existing building and the rising cost of construction materials.
He also took a swipe at Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for Washington, who is leading the probe into Mr. Powell.
“The problem that I have here is that we had some U.S. attorney with a dream or Assistant U.S. Attorney thinking it would be cute to bring Chair Powell under an investigation just a few months before the position was going to be open,” he said.
