Committee Chairman Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) delivers an opening statement during the confirmation hearing of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs for Kevin Wersh, U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee for chair of the Federal Reserve, at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on April 21, 2026 in Washington, DC.
Andrew Harnik | getty images
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott said Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is making a “significant mistake” by staying on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors after his term at the central bank ends.
Scott, R.S.C. “He’s breaking 75 years of precedent. Every time you get a new president, the former president is gone. That’s good news because you don’t want these philosophies to be in conflict,” he said at the Milken Institute Global Conference on Tuesday.
“I think it would be best for the country and the Fed if he left,” Scott said.
Powell’s term as Fed chair ends on May 15. By remaining in office, he is denying President Donald Trump a majority on the board, on which Powell can serve until 2028.
A Fed spokesperson did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on Scott’s comments.
His decision to remain on the Fed board comes at a time when Powell and Trump clashed last year over the president’s demand for lower interest rates. Trump has floated the idea of firing Powell, and his administration has launched an investigation into cost overruns in the Fed’s ongoing building renovation and related testimony by Powell before Congress.
Powell announced last week that he planned to remain on the board indefinitely while the investigation continued.
Powell said, “I have said that I will not leave the Board until this investigation is completed with transparency and finality, and I stand by that. I am encouraged by recent developments and I am closely monitoring the remaining steps of this process.”
After facing setbacks in a federal court, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro closed her criminal investigation against Powell and turned the investigation over to the Fed’s Inspector General. The move helped clear a political hurdle that had threatened the nomination of Powell’s successor, Kevin Wersh.
Senator Thom Tillis, R-N.C., a deciding vote on the Senate banking panel, vowed to withdraw his support for Wersh unless the Trump administration closed its investigation of Powell. Tillis ended his block in April after the criminal investigation was dropped. The committee advanced Warsh’s nomination last week. The full Senate is expected to vote on Warsh next week.
Scott has said he does not believe Powell committed any criminal acts and said in March that he expected the criminal investigation “to go on.”
At the Milken Institute on Tuesday, Scott said of Powell’s decision to remain in office: “I think maybe he’s a little bit of a bummer in the president’s eyes.”