Powell staying on as Fed board governor ‘violates all norms,’ Bessent says
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell should “move on” after his chairman term ends in mid-May, criticizing Powell’s decision to remain on the Fed’s Board of Governors even though President Trump did not request it. Bessent argued the move breaches norms adn described it as an “overshadow chair.”
Powell announced on Wednesday that he woudl stay as a governor after his May 15 departure as chairman, a decision that prevents another Trump nomination to the board-pending Senate approval of Trump-appointed Kevin Warsh as chairman. The article notes the only prior example of a chair staying on as a governor after their chairmanship ended was Marriner Eccles, at president Harry Truman’s request.
Bessent said he expects Powell will eventually depart. Meanwhile, the Senate is preparing to vote on Warsh’s nomination, which advanced from the Senate Banking Committee on a party-line vote. If confirmed, Warsh would likely start leading the Fed in time for the June board meeting.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said it’s time for Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to “move on” from the central bank after his term expires in mid-May, deriding Powell’s decision to stay aboard as a governor.
“It’s Chair Powell’s decision to stay as a governor if he wants. I think it violates all norms. They would say that one other governor did stay that was at the request of the president. The president has not requested that Chair Powell stay,” Bessent said on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures.
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Powell, who has sparred with President Donald Trump throughout the first year-and-a-half of Trump’s second term over interest rates, announced on Wednesday that he would stay on the Fed’s Board of Governors after his term as chairman ends on May 15. The move robs Trump of another nomination to the board as Trump-appointed Kevin Warsh comes on board as chairman, pending Senate confirmation.
The only other Fed chairman to stay on the board as a governor after his term as chairman expired was Marriner Eccles, at the request of President Harry Truman.
“I am optimistic that after a period, he may move on,” Bessent said of Powell. “I think that it would be inappropriate to overshadow — I wouldn’t call this a shadow chair, I’d call it an overshadow chair. And I hope that Chair Powell will move on over the short term.”
Powell’s unprecedented decision to stay on despite not being asked to by the sitting president comes as the full Senate prepares to vote on Warsh’s nomination, likely during the week of May 11. On Wednesday, the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee voted 13-11 on party lines to approve Warsh’s nomination after Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) dropped his vocal disapproval of the nomination.
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If the full Senate votes to confirm Warsh, he would likely begin his chairmanship in time to lead the Fed’s June board meeting.
“I’m very optimistic about the Warsh Fed. It’s time for a change,” Bessent said on Sunday.
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