“This is not normal”: Former Fed economist sounds alarm on Kevin Warsh after one-sided confirmation

The Senate Banking Committee voted 13-11 along party lines Wednesday to advance Kevin Warsh’s nomination as the next chair of the Federal Reserve, the first fully partisan committee vote on a Fed chair in the panel’s history, according to Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Hours later, current Fed Chair Jerome Powell will deliver what is very likely to be his last interest-rate decision before his term expires May 15, holding rates steady at around 3.6%.

To Claudia Sahm, the former Federal Reserve economist known for founding the eponymous recession indicator, the vote is just the start of the idiosyncrasy. “This is not normal is going to be a theme,” Sahm told Fortune. “Frankly, it could be a theme for Warsh’s tenure as Fed chair.”

Sahm’s remarks come in a climate of widespread concern about the nature of his appointment after an unprecedented assault on central bank neutrality by President Trump. Most economists and politicians, even some Republicans, lay the blame more squarely on Trump than on Warsh himself. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who had blocked Warsh’s nomination over the recently withdrawn DOJ investigation into Powell, told Warsh at his hearing that he was an “outstanding nominee” — making clear the holdup was about Trump, not the candidate.

Sahm, who worked at the Fed during Warsh’s tenure as a governor from 2006 to 2011, but doesn’t know him personally, said his confirmation hearing last week broke with a tradition of deference Fed leaders have historically shown to Congress. She pointed specifically to Warsh’s exchanges with Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Raphael Warnock, in which he made jokes deflecting pointed questions about the 2020 election and President Trump’s grade for the economy.

“His jokey replies to Warren and Warnock at the hearing were a disrespect I have never seen a Fed Chair show in testimony,” Sahm said. “I’ve watched a lot of hearings and testimony that Fed chairs have given—ones where they’re getting some very tough lines of questioning. They show a lot of respect.”

Read more: https://fortune.com/2026/04/30/kevin-warsh-claudia-sahm-partisanship-donald-trump-nomination-vote-jerome-powell/