Matt Grossman

Not only did the committee not vote for a cut today, but there were those three dissents from officials who didn't even want to talk about that possibility in the near future.

Thank you.

The relationship between the Fed and the White House is a very sensitive area right now, especially for Democrats who are skeptical that because President Trump has been so outspoken about lowering interest rates over the past few years, that any nominee would basically have to promise the president that that's what he'd pursue in office.

Now, Warsh emphasized today that he believes

didn't make any promises to President Trump, that President Trump never pressured him to make a commitment about lowering rates.

But Democrats on the committee were really asking some very pointed questions about stuff like the president's attempt to fire Lisa Cook, who's a Fed governor.

the president's continued threats to try to fire Jerome Powell, who's the current Fed chair.

When those topics came up, Warsh tried to keep a very neutral view.

He said that he isn't a legal expert, that he wants to see those issues play out in courts.

And of course, that might not have been very satisfying to Democrats on the committee who see some of these moments as a real breach in protocol.

A lot of the Republicans made it sound like supporting Kevin Warsh would be a pretty straightforward choice for them.

And that's been the expectation for a while.

Jerome Powell's term ends on May 15th.

So the Republicans would really like to see Kevin Warsh confirmed before then.

On the other hand, Tom Tillis, who's a senator from North Carolina on the banking committee, has said that he won't support Warsh's confirmation.

until the Justice Department's investigation of Jerome Powell is dropped.

That's because Tillis objects to that use of the Justice Department's investigative power, not because he has any problem with Kevin Warsh.

It's not exactly clear what the off-ramp to that is going to be just yet.

It looks pretty certain right now that there's no path forward for Warsh until there's some resolution between Tillis, who wants to see this investigation resolved, and the White House, which hasn't shown a readiness to drop it.

Thank you.