【中美创新时报2026年2月5日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）马萨诸塞州参议员伊丽莎白·沃伦表示，特朗普总统提名凯文·沃什为美联储主席候选人比其他人“危险得多”。她警告说，如果沃什获得确认，他可能会破坏央行在货币政策上的独立性，而货币政策的独立性是美联储的核心原则，旨在防止美联储官员基于政治而非经济因素做出利率决定。《波士顿环球报》记者吉姆·普赞格拉对此作了下述报道。
反对美联储主席提名人选对马萨诸塞州参议员伊丽莎白·沃伦来说并不陌生。
她曾两次投票反对确认现任美联储主席杰罗姆·鲍威尔的任命，其中包括在她的民主党同僚、总统乔·拜登提名他连任四年之后。在2022年的投票之前，沃伦表示鲍威尔在金融监管方面存在严重缺陷，并称他“不适合领导美联储”。
但沃伦周三告诉《环球报》，特朗普总统提名凯文·沃什，使得这一威胁具有了生存意义。
她警告说，如果沃什获得确认，他可能会破坏央行在货币政策上的独立性，而货币政策的独立性是美联储的核心原则，旨在防止美联储官员基于政治而非经济因素做出利率决定。
作为参议院银行委员会的首席民主党人，沃伦领导着阻止沃什提名的努力——这是一项艰巨的任务，因为共和党人占据了多数席位。该委员会必须批准沃什的提名。
“多年来，许多总统，无论是民主党人还是共和党人，都曾抱怨过美联储……但他们都尊重美联储的自主决策权，”她说道。“而如今，唐纳德·特朗普发起了一场全面公开的攻击，试图掌控美联储，这使得历史性的时刻与以往任何时候都截然不同。正因如此，这次提名比以往任何一次都更加危险。”
为了通过降低利率来暂时刺激经济而进行的政治干预，在其他国家往往会导致高通胀。但沃伦表示，她担心特朗普试图在11月中期选举前对美联储施加影响，恰恰会造成同样的后果。
“这是大选前孤注一掷的孤注一掷，试图在短期内提振经济，但会带来可怕的长期后果，”她说。“但这已经是他最后的绝招了。”
沃什曾任美联储理事，此次被选中接任美联储主席一职，是在特朗普史无前例地向鲍威尔施压，要求其在5月任期结束前辞职之后做出的决定——尽管鲍威尔是共和党人，而且最初是由特朗普任命的美联储主席。由于鲍威尔没有像特朗普希望的那样大幅降低利率，特朗普曾公开称他为“顽固的白痴”、 “愚蠢的”、“笨蛋”等等。
鲍威尔和大多数参与货币政策投票的美联储官员都采取了更为谨慎的态度。他们仍然对2022年经济从疫情中重启后遭遇的四十年来最高通胀反应迟缓耿耿于怀。自特朗普上任以来，他们也一直保持警惕，因为他征收的历史性高关税推高了许多商品的价格，而此前几年通胀一直呈下降趋势。
特朗普愤怒地回应了。
去年夏天，他试图解雇美联储理事丽莎·库克——这是史无前例的以正当理由罢免央行官员的尝试——此前司法部对她涉嫌抵押贷款欺诈展开了刑事调查。最高法院允许库克在审理其法律挑战期间继续留任。
随后在1月份，鲍威尔透露，司法部已对他是否就美联储位于华盛顿的历史性总部大楼的翻修事宜向国会撒谎展开刑事调查。此举引发了 两党人士的强烈愤慨。
鲍威尔发布了一段视频，称此举是由于美联储官员坚持“根据我们对公众利益的最佳评估来设定利率，而不是追随总统的偏好”。三位在世的前美联储主席与一个由两党前政府高级经济官员组成的团体发表声明，抨击这项刑事调查是“史无前例地企图利用检方攻击来破坏”央行的独立性。
这场争议使得特朗普难以提名据报道的美联储主席最终候选人之一——白宫首席经济顾问凯文·哈塞特——因为与总统关系密切可能会引起参议院共和党人的不满，他们对央行的独立性感到担忧。
沃什没有背负那样的包袱。
他毕业于哈佛法学院，拥有华尔街的工作经验，目前是倾向保守派的胡佛研究所的访问经济学家，也是斯坦福大学商学院的讲师。特朗普称他为“人们梦寐以求的理想人选”。
沃什没有回复记者的置评请求。白宫发言人库什·德赛表示，民主党人应该停止玩弄“政治游戏”。
德赛在一份声明中表示：“凯文·沃什被提名为美联储理事，得到了商界和政界领袖的一致支持，因为他的学术资历、私营部门的成功以及在美联储理事会的经验都是无可挑剔的。”
共和党人普遍对这项提名表示赞赏，经济学家马克·赞迪和杰森·弗曼也对此表示赞同。
参议院银行委员会主席、南卡罗来纳州参议员蒂姆·斯科特表示，沃什“对市场和货币政策有着深刻的了解”。另一位委员会成员、南达科他州参议员迈克·朗兹表示，沃什看起来“非常胜任”。
但沃伦称，由于沃什近几个月来试图讨好特朗普，他在美联储独立性这一关键问题上并不比哈塞特好多少。
沃什长期以来以货币政策“鹰派”著称——他认为防止高通胀比通过降低利率刺激就业增长更为重要。但去年，当特朗普开始寻找鲍威尔的继任者时，沃什却开始支持总统所希望的低利率政策，并对美联储的通胀担忧不以为然。
“总统的政策正在奏效。他的政策正在推动更强劲的经济增长和更低的物价，”沃什在10月份接受福克斯商业频道采访时表示。当时，自特朗普宣布加征关税以来，年通胀率已经连续几个月上升。“我真希望我对美联储也能这么说。”
沃伦表示，这种突然的转变使沃什失去了参赛资格。
沃伦说：“他15年来对通货膨胀和利率一贯的看法，一夜之间就发生了转变，以向唐纳德·特朗普低头。”
特朗普周五告诉记者，他没有要求沃什承诺，如果获得确认，他将推动降息，因为这样的问题“可能不太合适”。
“我希望他保持纯洁无瑕，”特朗普说。“但他确实想降息。我观察他很久了。”
但对鲍威尔的刑事调查可能会是个问题。
北卡罗来纳州共和党参议员、参议院银行委员会成员汤姆·蒂利斯称沃什是“一位合格的提名人选，对货币政策有着深刻的理解”。但蒂利斯将于年底卸任，他誓言在鲍威尔调查“得到全面、透明的解决”之前，他将反对任何美联储的提名。
如果委员会所有民主党人都反对沃什，蒂利斯投反对票就会否决这项提名。
“我寸步不让，”蒂利斯周二告诉记者。“这关乎美联储的独立性。”
与蒂利斯的担忧不谋而合，沃伦组织了委员会所有民主党成员联名致信斯科特，要求在鲍威尔和库克的刑事调查结束前，暂停对沃什提名的审议程序。但斯科特周三在福克斯商业频道预测，蒂利斯的担忧将会得到解决，并表示沃什获得确认的可能性“百分之百”。
不过，沃伦表示，她将猛烈抨击沃什对美联储独立性的威胁，并警告称，美联储的倒台可能会导致美国人物价上涨。
“我正在努力让这场斗争公开化，”她说。“唐纳德·特朗普已经明确表示，他想要一个傀儡来掌管美联储，而凯文·沃什已经证明他就是那个傀儡。”
题图：1月7日，马萨诸塞州参议员伊丽莎白·沃伦在华盛顿国会大厦与民主党同僚共同出席了一场关于住房成本的圆桌会议。图片来源：Heather Diehl/Getty
附原英文报道：
Elizabeth Warren says Kevin Warsh is ‘so much more dangerous’ than the other Fed chair nominees
By Jim Puzzanghera Globe Staff,Updated February 5, 2026
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren attended a roundtable on housing costs with fellow Democrats on Jan. 7 at the Capitol in Washington.Heather Diehl/Getty
WASHINGTON — Opposing a nominee to lead the Federal Reserve is familiar territory for Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren.
She voted against confirming current Fed Chair Jerome Powell twice, including after President Joe Biden, her fellow Democrat, nominated him for a second four-year term. Before that 2022 vote, Warren said Powell had serious shortcomings in financial regulation oversight and branded him “a dangerous man to head up the Fed.”
But Warren told the Globe Wednesday that President Trump’s nomination of Kevin Warsh has made the threat existential.
If Warsh is confirmed, she warned, he could destroy the central bank’s independence on monetary policy, a core tenet designed to keep Fed officials from making interest rate decisions based on politics instead of economics.
And as the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, which must approve Warsh’s nomination, Warren is leading the attempt to derail it — a difficult task because Republicans hold the majority.
“Through the years, many presidents, both Democrats and Republicans, have complained about the Fed … but they’ve all respected that the Fed makes its own decisions,” she said. “What makes this a moment in history unlike any other is that Donald Trump has launched an all-out public assault to take over the Fed. That’s what makes this nomination so much more dangerous than any that preceded it.”
Political interference in pursuit of a temporary economic jolt from lower interest rates has been a recipe for high inflation in other countries. But Warren said she fears that’s exactly what Trump is risking in trying to exert his influence on the Fed heading toward November’s midterms.
“It’s a desperate Hail Mary before the election, an effort to try to get some short-term boost in the economy that will have terrible long-term consequences,” she said. “But it’s all that he’s got left in his bag of tricks.”
The selection of Warsh, a former Fed board member, comes after Trump’s unprecedented campaign to pressure Powell to resign before his term as chair ends in May — even though Powell is a Republican who was first appointed as Fed chair by Trump. The president has publicly called Powell a “stubborn moron,” “stupid,” and a “dummy,” among other putdowns, because he hasn’t lowered interest rates as much as Trump wants.
Powell and most Fed officials who vote on monetary policy have taken a more cautious approach. They’re still scarred from their slow reaction to the four-decade high inflation that hit in 2022 after the economy reopened from the pandemic. And they have continued to be wary since Trump took office because his historically high tariffs have helped push prices for many goods higher after inflation had been trending down the past few years.
Trump responded angrily.
He tried to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook last summer — an unprecedented attempt to remove a central bank official for cause — after the Justice Department launched a criminal investigation of her for alleged mortgage fraud. The Supreme Court allowed Cook to stay in her job while it considers her legal challenge.
Then in January, Powell revealed that the Justice Department had launched a criminal investigation into whether he lied to Congress about the renovation of the Fed’s historic Washington headquarters. The move sparked bipartisan outrage.
Powell posted a video saying it was spurred by the insistence of Fed officials on “setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the president.” The three living former Fed chairs joined a bipartisan group of former top government economic officials in releasing a statement blasting the criminal inquiry as “an unprecedented attempt to use prosecutorial attacks to undermine” the central bank’s independence.
The controversy made it difficult for Trump to nominate one of his reported finalists for Fed chair — top White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett — because close ties to the president could have caused problems among Senate Republicans concerned about the central bank’s independence.
Warsh didn’t carry that baggage.
A Harvard Law graduate with experience on Wall Street, he is a visiting economics fellow at the conservative-leaning Hoover Institution think tank and a lecturer at Stanford University’s business school. Trump called him “the central casting guy that people wanted.”
Warsh did not respond to an email request for comment. White House spokesperson Kush Desai said Democrats should stop playing “political games.”
“Kevin Warsh’s nomination to the Federal Reserve has been resoundingly endorsed by business and political leaders because his academic credentials, private sector success, and experience on the Fed Board of Governors are unimpeachable,” Desai said in a statement.
Republicans have largely praised the nomination, which also drew the approval of economists like Mark Zandi and Jason Furman.
Senate Banking Committee chair Tim Scott of South Carolina said Warsh “has deep knowledge of markets and monetary policy.” South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds, another committee member, said Warsh appears “very well qualified.”
But Warren called Warsh no better than Hassett on the crucial issue of Fed independence because of efforts in recent months to appeal to Trump.
Warsh had a long reputation as a monetary policy “hawk” — someone who puts a greater value on preventing high inflation than stimulating job growth with lower interest rates. But as Trump began searching for Powell’s replacement last year, Warsh began advocating for the lower interest rates the president wants and dismissing the Fed’s inflation concerns.
“The president’s policies are working. His policies are leading to stronger growth and lower prices,” Warsh told Fox Business in October, when the annual inflation rate had been rising for several months since Trump announced his tariffs. “I wish I could say the same about the Federal Reserve.”
Warren said that abrupt conversion disqualifies Warsh.
“He has taken 15 years of his consistent view on inflation and interest rates and turned them on a dime in order to bow down to Donald Trump,” Warren said.
Trump told reporters on Friday that he had not asked Warsh to commit to pushing to cut interest rates if confirmed because such a question was “inappropriate, probably.”
“I want to keep him nice and pure,” Trump said. “But he certainly wants to cut rates. I’ve been watching him for a long time.”
But the criminal investigation into Powell could be a problem.
Senator Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican on the banking committee, called Warsh “a qualified nominee with a deep understanding of monetary policy.” But Tillis, who is stepping down at the end of the year, has vowed to oppose any Fed nomination until the Powell investigation “is fully and transparently resolved.”
If all Democrats on the committee oppose Warsh, a “no” vote from Tillis would kill the nomination.
“I’m not budging one inch,” Tillis told reporters Tuesday. “This is foundational to Fed independence.”
Echoing Tillis’s concerns, Warren organized a letter to Scott from all the committee’s Democrats demanding a delay to proceedings on Warsh’s nomination until the Powell and Cook criminal investigations have been closed. But Scott predicted on Fox Business Wednesday that Tillis’s concerns would be resolved and said the odds of a Warsh confirmation were “100 percent.”
Still, Warren said she’s going to hammer Warsh as a threat to Fed independence and warn that its loss could lead to higher prices for Americans.
“I‘m working hard to make this a very public fight,” she said. “Donald Trump has made clear he wants a sock puppet running the Federal Reserve, and Kevin Warsh has proven he is that sock puppet.”
