WASHINGTON, July 14 (Reuters) - At Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh's swearing-in ceremony in May, President Donald Trump was effusive about his pick to lead the U.S. central bank, pumping his fist and applauding alongside administration officials gathered in the White House.
"Go get 'em," Trump said as Warsh took the podium for a roughly seven-minute address that was only a third as long as Trump's remarks and blended compliments of the president with the new Fed chief's ambitions for the central bank.
Warsh will testify Tuesday at the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee and again before the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday.
Early actions seen as emphasizing independence
Warsh's initial steps are seen as showing more distance from Trump than not, with his appointments to a set of task forces last week noted for the level of expertise and the absence of the sort of ideological or partisan figures brought in at other agencies.
The task force appointments "really cement that view," tapping a group of well-known economists, corporate executives and central bankers likely to operate largely as Warsh says he intends — as neutral arbiters of key debates, some new and some ongoing, said Jon Faust, a former top adviser to Powell and now an economics professor at Johns Hopkins University.
Along with the task force appointments, his other early hires have shown no particular lean to Trump's sphere or the Make America Great Again movement.
For now, at least, Warsh seems to be taking Trump at his word when the president at his swearing-in told him to "be totally independent. ... Don't look at me."
Inflation target and policy stance remain in focus
In testimony prepared for delivery on Tuesday, Warsh reiterated that his main thrust right now is to bring inflation back to the Fed's 2% target, a goal welcome among those he called his "superb colleagues" at the central bank but that may require him to disappoint Trump's repeated hope for lower interest rates.
"If we get policy right — and we will — the inflation surge of the last five years will be a thing of the past," Warsh said in remarks to be presented before the House committee in a hearing that begins at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT).
Warsh has shown no signs that a rate cut will happen soon, a policy stance no different from the one that earned Powell steady criticism from Trump and, near the end of his tenure, a since-abandoned criminal investigation.
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