Powell Will Have an Edge in His Bid for Senate Confirmation

Senate’s lower 51-vote threshold to confirm will help nominee
Banking panel has bipartisan track record on Trump candidates

Mark Matthews, head of Asia research at Bank Julius Baer, discusses President Trump’s pick of the next Fed chair.(Source: Bloomberg)

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By Laura Litvan and Elizabeth Dexheimer

November 2, 2017 at 4:01 AM UTC

Updated on

November 2, 2017 at 8:14 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Jerome Powell, President Donald Trump’s choice to become Federal Reserve chairman, will have significant advantages once the Senate confirmation process gets started, even though he wasn’t the preferred choice of some Republicans.

Powell, a Republican, is already a member of the Fed Board of Governors, nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama, and is likely to get support from both parties. He was confirmed in 2012 by the Senate 74-21 to fill an unexpired term. In 2014, he was confirmed 67-24 for a full 14-year term. In both instances, all but one of the opponents were Republican.