Senate Democratic leaders said they would wait until Feb. 15 to schedule a committee vote on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s confirmation to another term.
Photo: YURI GRIPAS/REUTERS
The Federal Reserve’s board of governors voted Friday to designate Jerome Powell as its leader once his four-year term expires on Saturday, pending his confirmation by the Senate.
The move is largely procedural because President Biden has nominated Mr. Powell to serve a second four-year term, but the Senate hasn’t voted on his confirmation. Mr. Powell is expected to be confirmed with a bipartisan majority following an unremarkable Senate hearing last month.
Mr. Powell will be designated “chair pro tempore” until the Senate votes on his nomination, a move that has occurred three other times in the Fed’s history, most recently in 1996, when the Senate delayed for several months the confirmation of Alan Greenspan to a third term as chairman. Mr. Powell’s term as a governor on the central bank’s board lasts for another six years.
Mr. Powell, who turned 69 years old on Friday, abstained from the vote. The Fed’s three other governors voted in favor. The central bank’s separate rate-setting body, called the Federal Open Market Committee, voted at its meeting last month to name Mr. Powell its chair.
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown (D., Ohio) told reporters this week that he would wait to schedule a committee vote on Mr. Powell’s confirmation until Feb. 15 because he wants to vote at the same time on Mr. Biden’s four additional nominees to the central bank’s seven-member board.
Mr. Biden has tapped Fed governor Lael Brainard to serve as vice chairwoman. On Thursday, the Senate held confirmation hearings for three other picks: Sarah Bloom Raskin as vice chairwoman of bank supervision and Lisa Cook and Philip Jefferson to serve as Fed governors.
Mr. Powell’s nomination has won backing from Senate leaders in both parties, but Republicans have signaled they could oppose some of the other nominees. Mr. Brown’s decision to delay Mr. Powell’s confirmation vote could represent an effort to speed along consideration for the other nominees.
Democrats might be unable to maneuver nominees or other legislation through the Senate without Republican support. While they have 50-50 control of the chamber, Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D., N.M.) was hospitalized after suffering a stroke this past week. His office has said that he is expected to make a full recovery but that he is unlikely to return to work for four to six weeks following surgery to reduce swelling in his brain.
Write to Nick Timiraos at nick.timiraos@wsj.com
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Appeared in the February 5, 2022, print edition as ‘Powell Is Designated ‘Chair Pro Tempore’.’
