Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) has offered a compromise solution that will enable him to drop his threatened block of Kevin Warsh’s nomination to chair the Federal Reserve without having the Trump administration lose face over its probe into cost overruns at the central bank’s headquarters.
Politico reports Tillis and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC) are recommending the creation of a special Congressional committee to examine construction projects under the committee’s jurisdiction. This new panel would be empowered to replace the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) attempts to investigate the Fed and Chairman Jerome Powell over whether the cost overruns involved criminal behavior.
“I not only think it’s a good off-ramp, but I also think it’s good governance,” said Tillis after Warsh’s confirmation hearing on Tuesday.
Tillis stated he would back Warsh only if the DOJ’s attempts to investigate Powell were halted. While a federal judge has prevented the DOJ from serving subpoenas to Powell and the Fed, the DOJ has vowed to press ahead with its investigation.
Scott stated the Senate Banking Committee could handle the investigation.
“Wherever that leads us, we should go,” he said on CNBC. “If that leads to a criminal referral, so be it. But give us Kevin Warsh at the Fed so that we have access to all the information necessary.”
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