With his term as chair formally expiring Friday, Jerome Powell received a chair pro tempore designation from the Federal Reserve Board, a stopgap arrangement to maintain continuity until his successor takes office.
Jerome Powell will hold the designation until Kevin Warsh — confirmed by the Senate 54-45 earlier this week — is officially sworn in as the Fed's 17th chair. No swearing-in date has been announced. The board voted 5-1 in favor of the designation, with Fed Governor Stephen Miran voting against and Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman abstaining.
The Fed said the action is consistent with past practice during transitions between chairs.
The two governors issued a joint statement contending that any temporary designation ought to carry a hard deadline of no more than one month, with an option to extend only through another board vote or presidential action should Warsh still not be sworn in at that point. "Given that we do not support an unlimited timeframe for temporary chair designation, we cannot support this action," they wrote. Miran and Bowman noted that nothing in the Fed's history quite matches this circumstance, pointing out that no prior chair transition had a Senate-confirmed replacement already standing by as the outgoing chair's term ran out.
Before Warsh can be sworn in, two conditions must be met: Trump must execute the official commission bearing his signature, and Warsh must furnish documentation showing he has sold off certain financial assets, according to Barron's. He could be sworn in as early as Monday, according to Barron's.
Rather than departing the Fed entirely, Powell has said he intends to keep his seat on the Board of Governors, an appointment that does not expire until January 2028. Jerome Powell has said he will not leave the board until he is satisfied that legal threats directed at him and the institution have fully passed. A Justice Department criminal investigation into cost overruns at the Fed's Washington headquarters renovation was dropped last month after it complicated Kevin Warsh's confirmation path; federal prosecutors left open the possibility of reviving the case under certain circumstances.
Thursday brought Miran's formal resignation letter as governor, timed to take effect the moment Warsh is sworn in; Miran had cast a dissenting vote on every Fed policy action since his arrival on the board, consistently pushing for rate reductions. Kevin Warsh will take Stephen Miran's seat on the board.
Jerome Powell's eight-year tenure was marked by sustained friction with the Trump administration, including repeated public pressure for interest rate cuts and the now-dropped Justice Department probe. Kevin Warsh faces a challenging economic backdrop, with inflation running at elevated levels amid rising energy costs tied to the war with Iran and the effects of Trump administration tariffs still filtering through the economy.