2026年5月12日 / 美国东部时间下午12:29 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
华盛顿讯——参议院周二确认凯文·沃什出任美联储理事会理事，这是特朗普总统推动让沃什担任美联储主席的关键一步。此前因对即将卸任的美联储主席杰罗姆·鲍威尔的刑事调查，这一进程数月来充满不确定性。
参议院以51票赞成、45票反对的结果，批准沃什担任美联储7名理事之一，任期14年。参议院还需单独投票确认沃什接任美联储理事会主席，接替将于本周五结束四年任期的鲍威尔。预计该投票将于本周晚些时候进行。
沃什将填补斯蒂芬·米兰此前占据的理事席位。米兰作为特朗普顾问，于去年9月获美联储确认任职，以填补因提前辞职出现的空缺。米兰的任期理论上已于1月结束，但他获准留任直至继任者获得确认。米兰曾担任白宫经济顾问委员会主席，且以不同寻常的方式请假数月，在美联储任职。
沃什的美联储理事任期将持续至2040年。
作为斯坦福大学和哈佛法学院校友，沃什曾在2006年至2011年担任美联储理事，期间经历了全球金融危机，此次是重返美联储。离开美联储后，他担任胡佛研究所研究员，并作为亿万富翁投资者斯坦利·德鲁肯米勒的顾问。沃什的净资产超过1亿美元，其妻子是化妆品巨头雅诗兰黛的亿万孙女简·劳德。
凯文·沃什于4月2日在华盛顿举行的参议院银行、住房和城市事务委员会确认听证会上宣誓就职。陈梦彤/中国新闻社/视觉中国 via 盖蒂图片社
沃什一直是美联储的常客批评者，对美联储的资产负债表规模、银行监管方式，乃至其使用数据和与公众沟通的方式都提出过质疑。过去一年间，沃什不时暗示支持降息，不过在他此前担任美联储理事期间，他以更为鹰派的立场著称，关注通胀风险，对过于宽松的货币政策持谨慎态度。
特朗普毫不掩饰他希望美联储降息的意愿，曾称鲍威尔是“蠢货”和“顽固的骡子”，指责他不愿大幅降息。美联储在利率决策上面临艰难权衡：降息可以提振经济增长，但有时会以推高通胀为代价。
自去年秋季加入美联储理事会以来，米兰在美联储利率制定机构——联邦公开市场委员会的所有决策中投下了反对票。今年以来该委员会的三次会议均维持利率不变，米兰均呼吁降息；2025年该委员会最后三次会议降息时，米兰则认为降息幅度本应更大。
在确认听证会上，沃什承诺将维护美联储制定利率的独立性。他表示特朗普“从未要求我预先决定、设定或敲定任何利率决策，我也绝不会这么做”。
“若获确认担任美联储主席，我将成为独立的决策者，”他在上个月说道。
今年早些时候，鲍威尔披露美联储因他就美联储总部数十亿美元翻新工程向参议院作证一事，收到了刑事调查传票，沃什的提名确认进程因此陷入不确定性。鲍威尔认为这项调查是为了恐吓他，检方对此予以否认。一名法官驳回了传票，认定其目的是“骚扰”鲍威尔，迫使他要么降息要么辞职。
此次调查令一些参议院共和党人感到担忧，北卡罗来纳州参议员汤姆·提利斯曾威胁，除非调查结束，否则不会将任何美联储提名提交参议院银行委员会投票。
华盛顿特区美国检察官珍妮娜·皮罗上个月表示其办公室将结束此项调查后，提利斯解除了对提名的阻挠。皮罗称，美联储监察长将对此事展开调查，且她“若有证据表明有必要，将毫不犹豫重启刑事调查”。
作为美联储7人理事会成员之一，沃什将与特朗普第一任期内提名的两名理事，以及三名拜登提名的理事一同履职。特朗普试图解雇其中一名拜登提名理事的尝试，目前已在法院受阻。
至少就目前而言，鲍威尔将继续留在理事会。他表示将留任美联储理事会普通理事，直至确信调查“彻底结束”，这将使他成为75多年来首位在主席任期结束后继续留任的美联储主席。
鲍威尔未明确他将在理事会任职多久。他的理事任期至2028年1月。他承诺将保持他所称的“低调姿态”。
Senate confirms Kevin Warsh as Fed governor, clearing path to replace Powell as chair
May 12, 2026 / 12:29 PM EDT / CBS News
Washington— The Senate confirmed Kevin Warsh to the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors on Tuesday, a crucial step in President Trump’s push to make Warsh the central bank’s leader after months of uncertainty due to a criminal probe of outgoing chief Jerome Powell.
The chamber voted 51-45 to confirm Warsh to a 14-year term as one of the Fed’s seven governors. The Senate still needs to vote separately to confirm Warsh as chair of the Board of Governors, replacing Powell, whose four-year term as chair ends Friday. That vote is expected later this week.
Warsh is taking the board seat held by Stephen Miran, a Trump adviser who was confirmed to the Fed last September to fill a vacancy created by an early resignation. Miran’s term technically ended in January, but he was allowed to remain on the board until his successor was confirmed. Miran previously chaired the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers, and in an unusual move, took a leave of absence to serve on the Fed for a few months.
Warsh’s term as Fed governor will run until 2040.
An alumnus of Stanford University and Harvard Law School, Warsh is returning to the Fed after a five-year stint as a governor that ended in 2011, spanning the global financial crisis. Since leaving the Fed, he has worked as a Hoover Institution fellow and an adviser for billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller. Warsh’s net worth exceeds $100 million, and he is married to Jane Lauder, the billionaire granddaughter of cosmetics magnate Estée Lauder.
Kevin Warsh is sworn in during a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee confirmation hearing on April 2 in Washington, D.C. Chen Mengtong/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images
Warsh has been a frequent critic of the Fed, questioning everything from the size of its balance sheet and its approach to regulating banks, to the ways it uses data and communicates to the public. Warsh has also signaled at times over the last year that he’s open to lowering interest rates, though in his prior run as a Fed governor, he was known as more of a hawk, focused on inflation risks and wary of overly loose monetary policy.
Mr. Trump has made no secret of his desire for the Fed to lower interest rates, calling Powell a “moron” and a “stubborn mule” for not agreeing to aggressively slash rates. The Fed faces tough trade-offs in its rate-setting decisions: Lowering them can boost economic growth, but sometimes at the cost of causing inflation to heat up.
Since joining the Fed board last fall, Miran has dissented from every decision by the Fed’s interest rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee. When the 12-member panel left rates stable in its three meetings so far this year, Miran called for rate cuts. When the panel had reduced rates for its final three meetings of 2025, Miran argued the cuts should’ve been larger.
In confirmation hearings, Warsh promised to safeguard the Fed’s power to set interest rates independently. He said Mr. Trump “never asked me to predetermine, fix or decide on any interest rate decision, nor would I ever do so.”
“I will be an independent actor if confirmed as chair of the Federal Reserve,” he said last month.
Warsh’s confirmation was thrust into uncertainty earlier this year, after Powell revealed that the Fed had received subpoenas as part of a criminal probe into his testimony to the Senate about a multibillion-dollar renovation to the central bank’s headquarters. Powell argued the investigation was an attempt to intimidate him, which prosecutors deny. A judge quashed the subpoenas, finding they were intended to “harass” Powell into either lowering rates or resigning.
The investigation worried some Senate Republicans, with Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina refusing to vote any Fed nominees out of the Senate Banking Committee unless the investigation ended.
Tillis lifted his block on nominees after U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro said last month her office would close its probe. Pirro said the Fed’s Inspector General will look into the issue, and she will “not hesitate to restart a criminal investigation should the facts warrant doing so.”
As a member of the seven-person Fed board, Warsh will serve with two governors who were nominated during Mr. Trump’s first term, plus three Biden nominees. Mr. Trump’s attempts to fire one of the Biden picks have been blocked in court so far.
And, at least for now, Powell will round out the board. He has said he will remain a rank-and-file member of the Fed’s Board of Governors until he’s confident the investigation is “well and truly over,” making him the first outgoing Fed chair in more than 75 years to stick around after his chairmanship is up.
Powell has not specified how long he will stay on the board. His term ends in January 2028. He has promised to keep what he said would be a “low profile.”
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