Tamara Keith

Well, we're going to leave it there for today.

I'm Tamara Keith.

I cover the White House.

And thank you for listening to the NPR Politics Podcast.

Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast for Monday, February 2nd, 2026.

I'm Tamara Keith.

I cover the White House.

And NPR's chief economics correspondent, Scott Horsley, is also here.

Welcome back, Scott.

Yeah, and we are recording this podcast at 1.04 p.m.

Eastern Time.

Today on the show, President Trump has named his choice to replace Jerome Powell as chair of the Federal Reserve.

What do you need to know about his pick, Kevin Warsh, and what stands between him and Senate confirmation?

But Scott, before we get into Warsh,

Let's do a little Federal Reserve 101, if you will.

Remind us what the Fed actually does.

And we've used the phrase independence a lot in the last year.

But can you just explain why it's important for the Federal Reserve to be insulated from politics?

So, Franco, President Trump has been very vocal about his desire for the Fed to lower interest rates.

He doesn't seem to be all that into the idea of Federal Reserve independence.