April 13 (Reuters) – Federal Reserve chair nominee Kevin Warsh nL6N3YV0Q5 has submitted required paperwork to the U.S. Senate, putting him one step closer to a hearing in the chamber and his eventual installation as Jerome Powell’s successor, CNBC reported on Monday, citing two sources familiar with the matter.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report, and Warsh’s financial disclosures had not been posted on the U.S. Office of Government Ethics’ website as of late on Monday.
A spokesman for the Senate Banking Committee, which typically would require a nominee’s financial disclosures to be in hand before scheduling a hearing, declined to comment.
The panel also requires nominees to fill out a questionnaire, though at times has scheduled a hearing without this part of the paperwork in hand. Its rules require five business days’ notice to schedule a hearing, making next week the earliest possible timing for Warsh to appear before the committee.
Even once the hearing is scheduled, it is unclear how quickly Warsh could be confirmed by the full Senate.
A key Republican lawmaker has vowed to block nL6N40119X Warsh’s confirmation until the conclusion of a Department of Justice investigation into Powell for his oversight of renovations to the Fed’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. There’s little indication of progress so far on that matter.
Though a federal judge quashed the DOJ’s subpoenas, finding the probe to be a thinly disguised effort to pressure Powell to lower interest rates or resign, the department has said it will appeal that decision.
Powell’s tenure nL6N4061A9 as head of the Fed ends on May 15, and he has said he will continue to fill the role on a “pro tem” basis if Warsh is not confirmed and in place by that time.
(Reporting by Carlos Méndez in Mexico City and Ann Saphir in San Francisco; Editing by Paul Simao)
