Democrats Take the Senate, Adding Another Obstacle to Trump's Path to Reshaping the Fed

As Democrats won control of the Senate, Donald Trump's effort to reshape the Federal Reserve and bend interest-rate policy to his will ran into a powerful barrier. The shift in Senate control was a major political turn that had once seemed unlikely. It effectively blocks the path for White House loyalists to Trump to be confirmed to the seven-member Fed Board of Governors and deprives the Trump administration of its most direct tool for further tightening its grip on the U.S. central bank. With Democrats in the majority, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren could become chair of the Senate Banking Committee. That means the committee overseeing the Fed would be led by Warren, who is expected to block any nominee seen as overly subservient to pressure from the executive branch from advancing. The election outcome could also give the Fed and its chair, Kevin Warsh, more room to raise interest rates to fight inflation.