2026年5月13日 / 美国东部时间下午3:11 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
华盛顿—— 参议院周三投票确认凯文·沃什为美联储主席，这对特朗普总统而言是一场胜利。此前特朗普与即将卸任的美联储主席杰罗姆·鲍威尔多次发生争执，并敦促美联储大幅降息。
此次投票结果为54票赞成、45票反对，来自宾夕法尼亚州的民主党参议员约翰·费特曼与所有共和党议员一同支持沃什的任命。
沃什的四年美联储主席任期将于本周五启动。鲍威尔表示，他暂时将以普通美联储理事的身份留任。
今年早些时候，美国司法部对鲍威尔展开刑事调查的消息引发参议院部分共和党议员不满，他们称将暂停支持沃什的提名，直到该调查被撤销。检察官于4月放弃了调查，为沃什的确认铺平了道路。
沃什已于周二另行获得确认，出任美联储七人理事会理事，任期至2040年结束。
凯文·沃什，特朗普总统提名的美联储主席人选，于2026年4月21日周二在参议院银行委员会作证。格雷姆·斯隆 / 彭博社 via 盖蒂图片社
沃什曾于2006年至2011年期间担任美联储理事会理事。此后他曾在斯坦福大学胡佛研究所担任研究员，并在亿万富翁斯坦利·德鲁肯米勒的个人投资办公室担任合伙人。
这位新任美联储主席近年来曾批评美联储，呼吁央行进行“体制改革”，并质疑其在新冠疫情后应对通胀飙升的举措、银行监管方式以及资产负债表规模。
沃什去年还曾暗示支持降息，这与特朗普的诉求一致。不过多位分析师指出，沃什过去曾持有鹰派货币政策立场，即强调通胀风险，倾向于支持加息。
特朗普并非首位希望美联储通过降息提振经济增长的总统，但他对这一问题的持续关注引发了人们对美联储能否维持传统独立性的担忧。在上月的参议院确认听证会上，沃什承诺将成为一名“独立决策者”，并表示：“货币政策独立性至关重要。”
在鲍威尔任内，美联储在2022年和2023年大幅加息后，对降息采取了谨慎态度，担心此举会导致通胀卷土重来。这一做法引发特朗普的不满，他称鲍威尔为“笨蛋”“顽固的骡子”和“太迟先生”。
今年早些时候，美联储收到大陪审团传票，成为司法部调查的一部分。鲍威尔称此次调查是施压运动的一部分，旨在胁迫他降息，但检察官坚称这是针对美联储一项耗资巨大的建筑翻新项目以及鲍威尔在参议院作证时就该工程发表的可能虚假陈述展开的合法调查。一名法官支持美联储的诉求，撤销了传票，并认定传票的目的是“骚扰”鲍威尔。
此次调查成为特朗普替换鲍威尔计划的重大阻碍。北卡罗来纳州共和党参议员汤姆·提利斯曾拒绝将包括沃什在内的美联储提名法案提交参议院银行委员会投票，直到司法部撤销该调查，提利斯称此次调查是“毫无根据的”。
华盛顿特区联邦检察官珍妮娜·皮尔罗于上月结束了此次调查，同时指出如果美联储监察长的审查发现存在不当行为，她可以重启调查。这一结果让提利斯满意，为共和党控制的参议院确认沃什的任命扫清了障碍。
沃什接任美联储主席之际，正值美联储应对伊朗战争带来的经济影响。上个月，美联储利率制定机构联邦公开市场委员会投票决定将利率目标维持不变，这已是连续第三次会议保持利率稳定，鲍威尔将此归因于伊朗局势。
“经济前景仍存在高度不确定性，中东冲突加剧了这种不确定性，”鲍威尔在上月的新闻发布会上表示。
通胀率已低于2022年的峰值，但仍高于美联储2%的目标，且受战争推高的能源价格影响出现飙升，因此目前尚不清楚美联储何时或是否会决定降息。失业率仍维持在较低水平，4月就业报告表现强劲。
根据芝加哥商品交易所集团的美联储观察工具，金融市场认为今年降息的概率低于50%。美国财政部长斯科特·贝森特上月表示，如果美联储决定在降息前“等待局势明朗”，他可以理解。但特朗普仍持续呼吁降息。
无论沃什对此持何种观点，他对利率政策的掌控都并非绝对。尽管美联储主席通常对联邦公开市场委员会拥有较大影响力，但从正式层面而言，他只是12名投票成员之一。
该委员会由5名不由总统任命的地区联邦储备银行行长以及美联储7名理事组成。目前，理事会7个席位中有3名是特朗普提名的官员——包括沃什，他接替了另一名特朗普提名的理事——另有3名是拜登提名的官员。特朗普试图解雇拜登提名的理事丽莎·库克，但迄今为止该举动被法院驳回。
还有鲍威尔的问题。鲍威尔最初是奥巴马任命的美联储理事，在特朗普第一任政府期间被提拔为主席，并在拜登政府期间获得连任。
美联储主席通常会在任期结束后离开理事会，但鲍威尔表示，他将留在美联储，直到司法部的调查——他认为这是对美联储独立性的威胁——“真正彻底结束”。
上月，鲍威尔表示他将“在一段待定的时间内”继续留在理事会，但他表示计划保持“低调”。
“我尊重主席的角色，”鲍威尔解释道，他在最后一次以普通美联储理事身份任职期间，“真切体会到达成共识有多困难，我一直觉得自己不应该不必要地添乱。”
Senate confirms Kevin Warsh as Fed chair as Trump presses for lower interest rates
May 13, 2026 / 3:11 PM EDT / CBS News
Washington— The Senate on Wednesday voted to confirm Kevin Warsh as chairman of the Federal Reserve, marking a victory for President Trump, who has clashed with outgoing Fed chief Jerome Powell repeatedly and urged the central bank to slash interest rates.
The vote was 54-45, with Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania joining all Republicans in support of Warsh’s confirmation.
Warsh’s four-year term as Fed chair will begin Friday. Powell has said he will remain a rank-and-file Fed board member for the time being.
Earlier this year, the Justice Department’s efforts to criminally investigate Powell rattled some Republicans in the Senate, who said they would withhold their support until the probe was dropped. Prosecutors abandoned their efforts in April, paving the way for Warsh’s confirmation.
Warsh was separately confirmed Tuesday to be a member of the Fed’s seven-person Board of Governors for a term that ends in 2040.
Kevin Warsh, President Trump’s nominee to chair the Federal Reserve, testifies before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday, April 21, 2026. Graeme Sloan / Bloomberg via Getty Images
Warsh previously served on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors from 2006 to 2011. He then worked as a fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and a partner at billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller’s personal investment office.
The new chair has been critical of the Fed in recent years, calling for a “regime change” at the central bank and questioning its handling of the post-COVID inflation surge, its approach to regulating banks and the size of its balance sheet.
Warsh also signaled support for lowering interest rates last year, in line with Mr. Trump’s wishes. Many analysts have noted, though, that Warsh has held hawkish views on monetary policy in the past, meaning he emphasized inflation risks and tended to favor higher rates.
Mr. Trump is hardly the first president to want the Fed to lower interest rates in order to boost economic growth, but his focus on the issue has prompted concerns about whether the Fed will maintain its traditional independence. In a Senate confirmation hearing last month, Warsh promised to be an “independent actor” and said: “Monetary policy independence is essential.”
Under Powell, the Fed has taken a cautious approach to lowering interest rates after raising them sharply in 2022 and 2023, wary of causing inflation to resurge. That approach has drawn the ire of Mr. Trump, who has called Powell a “numbskull,” a “stubborn mule” and “Mr. Too Late.”
Then, earlier this year, the Fed was served grand jury subpoenas as part of an investigation by the Justice Department. Powell alleged the probe was part of a pressure campaign to intimidate him into cutting rates, but prosecutors insisted it was a legitimate investigation into a pricey Fed building renovation project and possible false statements by Powell in Senate testimony about the construction. A judge sided with the Fed, quashing the subpoenas and finding their purpose was to “harass” Powell.
The investigation posed a major speed bump in Mr. Trump’s efforts to replace Powell. GOP Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina refused to vote any Fed nominees out of the Senate Banking Committee — including Warsh — until the Justice Department dropped the probe, which Tillis called “bogus.”
U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro closed the investigation last month, while noting she could restart it if a review by the Fed’s inspector general finds wrongdoing. That satisfied Tillis, clearing the way for the Republican-controlled Senate to confirm Warsh.
Warsh is taking the helm of the Federal Reserve as it grapples with the economic impacts of the Iran war. Powell pointed to Iran when the Fed’s rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee voted last month to leave its interest rate target steady for the third meeting in a row.
“The economic outlook remains highly uncertain, and the conflict in the Middle East has added to this uncertainty,” Powell said in a press conference last month.
Inflation is below its 2022 peak but still exceeds the Fed’s 2% target, and has spiked due to higher energy prices brought about by the war, making it unclear when or whether the central bank will decide it’s appropriate to lower interest rates. The unemployment rate has also remained fairly low and the April jobs report was strong.
Financial markets believe the odds of a rate cut this year are below 50%, according to CME Group’s FedWatch tool. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said last month he would understand if the Fed decides to “wait for some clarity” before cutting rates. Mr. Trump, however, has continued to call for rate cuts.
Regardless of Warsh’s view on the issue, his control over interest rates will not be absolute. While the Fed chair typically has a lot of influence over the FOMC, the chair is formally just one of 12 voting members.
The panel is made up of five regional Fed bank presidents who are not appointed by the president, along with the Fed’s seven governors. Currently, three governors are Trump nominees — including Warsh, who replaced a Trump pick — and three were Biden nominees. Mr. Trump is trying to fire Biden pick Lisa Cook, but that move has so far been blocked by the courts.
And then there’s Powell. Originally an Obama-appointed Fed governor, he was elevated to chair during the first Trump administration and re-upped during the Biden administration.
Fed chairs have typically left the board after their term as the boss ends, but Powell has said he will remain at the central bank until the Justice Department’s probe — which he views as a threat to the Fed’s independence — is “well and truly over.”
Last month, Powell said he will remain on the board “for a period of time to be determined.” But he said he plans to keep a “low profile.”
“I respect the role of chair,” Powell said, explaining that during his last stint as a rank-and-file Fed governor, he “had real sympathy for how hard it is to get that group to consensus, and I always felt like I don’t want to add to that unnecessarily.”
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