00:00The U.S. Senate has approved Kevin Walsh as chair of the Federal Reserve,
00:05placing the 56-year-old lawyer and financier at the helm of the central bank.
00:09He was approved in a 54-45 vote in what was the most partisan Senate confirmation ever for a Fed
00:16chair.
00:17Only one Democrat, Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, voted with the Republican majority.
00:24His swearing-in to the four-year Fed chair term and a concurrent 14-year term as Fed governor,
00:30which was approved by the Senate on Tuesday, awaits final White House signatures.
00:35The White House did not respond to questions about when Trump would complete the final paperwork or the timing of
00:41his swearing-in.
00:42Walsh will take on the leadership from Fed chair Jerome Powell, whose term ends on Friday but will remain a
00:48Fed governor.
00:49Fed governor Stephen Miran, currently the central bank's biggest advocate of rate cuts,
00:54will vacate his spot on the board to make room for Walsh.
00:57Expected to be in place to chair the Fed's next meeting on June 16-17,
01:02Walsh joins a central bank whose policymakers are engaged in a vigorous debate on the direction of interest rates.
01:08Several central bankers have argued that the Fed should consider rate hikes,
01:12concerned that inflation is broadening, even beyond the impact of the Trump administration's tariffs
01:17and the spike in oil prices from the Iran conflict.
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