Senate panel advances Kevin Warsh’s nomination for US Fed chair

Senate panel approves Trump’s nominee Kevin Warsh to replace Jerome Powell as US Fed chair on party line vote. His nomination heads to the full senate body for confirmation.Kevin Warsh has passed a major hurdle to become the next chair of the United States Federal Reserve.Warsh, US President Donald Trump’s handpicked choice to succeed current chairman Jerome Powell, whose term is set to end on May 15, was approved by the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4As US-Iran talks remain ‘stalled’, experts warn of ‘long-term disruptions’list 2 of 4Musk testifies at OpenAI trial it’s not OK to ‘loot a charity’list 3 of 4How US and Iran are playing a crypto cat-and-mouse game over sanctionslist 4 of 4Is Iran’s oil storage nearly full – and will it have to cut production?end of listThe committee voted along party lines, with 13 Republicans voting in favour of the Republican nominee and the 11 Democratic committee members voting against his nomination.Warsh’s nomination now advances to the full Senate for a vote to formally confirm him as the head of the central bank. The earliest the full Senate could vote to confirm Warsh would be May 11.Warsh, who previously served on the Fed Board of Governors from 2006 to 2011, faced hurdles in advance of his confirmation hearing earlier this month. North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis said he would not vote for any Trump nominee for the central bank unless a criminal investigation into Jerome Powell was dropped. Prosecutors had previously stated they found no evidence of wrongdoing.Last week, the Department of Justice dropped its criminal investigation into Powell.“With the Department of Justice seemingly dropping its investigation into current chair Jerome Powell, Warsh’s path to the seat looks significantly clearer,” Yerbol Orynbayev, a former governor of the World Bank, told Al Jazeera.“The noise surrounding the independence of the central bank has somewhat quietened as a result, and, on the DOJ’s word, Senator Thom Tillis has dropped his hold on the Warsh nomination. As Republicans hold the Senate majority, there is the sense that Warsh’s confirmation is a done deal – what’s next, however, is what everyone is waiting to see.”