← Videos · Economy, Tariffs & Trade

Warsh Testifies at His Senate Banking Confirmation Hearing for Federal Reserve Chair

April 21, 2026 · Associated Press · 2:28:35

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs held its confirmation hearing for Kevin Warsh, the President’s nominee to chair the Federal Reserve, on April 21, 2026, in Room SD-538 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, with Chairman Tim Scott presiding. Senators questioned Warsh on the extent of his conversations with the President about lowering interest rates and on whether he would make decisions independently of the White House, according to C-SPAN’s hearing record. Warsh promised the committee he would protect the Fed’s independence and would not act as a “sock puppet” for the White House, and he called for “a regime change in the conduct of policy” and a new inflation framework at the central bank.

Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren pressed Warsh on more than $100 million in assets she said he had not disclosed, suggesting conflicts of interest and citing recent ethics scandals involving Fed officials; Warsh responded that he had agreed to sell all of his financial assets before being sworn in. Warren also challenged his 2008 financial-crisis record as a Fed governor, arguing he had favored Wall Street bailouts over aid to families. The hearing came after Senator Thom Tillis had vowed to block any Fed nominee until a Justice Department investigation of outgoing Chair Jerome Powell was resolved; a federal judge dismissed the subpoenas in that probe in March 2026. The committee advanced Warsh’s nomination eight days later, on April 29, by a 13–11 party-line vote, and he was sworn in as Chair on May 22, 2026.

Why it matters

Warsh’s confirmation is the personnel hinge of the administration’s economic record: the President nominated him after refusing to renominate Powell over Powell’s resistance to aggressive rate cuts, and then confirmed a chair who pledged independence from that same President on the record. The promises Warsh made here — independence, full divestment, and a new inflation framework — are the commitments his tenure, including the September 2026 rate hike, is judged against.

Scoreboard watch

This is a candidate item for the weekly scoreboard: Warsh’s April 21, 2026 confirmation-hearing pledges (central-bank independence from the President; divestment of all financial assets before taking the oath; a new inflation framework) — as stated at the hearing, to be checked against his conduct in office.

Sources: Associated Press, “LIVE: Trump’s Fed chair nominee Kevin Warsh faces Senate committee hearing,” April 21, 2026 (livestream of the committee feed, embedded above); C-SPAN, Senate Banking Committee hearing record, April 21, 2026; Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs committee vote, April 29, 2026. All figures and characterizations as stated by Mr. Warsh and committee members at the hearing.