Jerome Powell answered the succession question on Wednesday the way central bankers answer everything — with a legalism nobody asked for and everyone needed.

“If my successor is not confirmed by the end of my term as chair, I would serve as chair pro tem until he is confirmed,” Powell said at the post-FOMC press conference. “That is what the law calls for. That’s what we’ve done on several occasions, including involving me.”

He’s right on the history. Title 12, Section 244 of the U.S. Code provides for exactly this scenario. Marriner Eccles did it in 1948. Arthur Burns did it in 1978. Alan Greenspan served as chair pro tem for nearly four months in 1996 while the Senate dawdled on his reconfirmation. The mechanism exists because Congress understood something obvious: you don’t leave the world’s most powerful central bank without a pilot.

The question is why that mechanism is being activated now. Kevin Warsh, Trump’s pick to succeed Powell, has been nominated but his confirmation is stuck on the Senate Banking Committee, where Republican Sen. Thom Tillis has pledged to block all Fed nominees until U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro drops her criminal investigation into Powell — a probe a federal judge just quashed as politically motivated. Pirro is appealing. Tillis isn’t budging. Powell’s term expires May 15.

So: the man being criminally investigated is staying to keep the institution steady, while the man picked to replace him can’t get a vote because of the investigation into the man he’s replacing.

Powell went further. He said he has “no intention of leaving the board until the investigation is well and truly over with transparency and finality.” That commitment extends beyond the chair role — Powell’s separate term as a Fed governor runs well past his May departure as chair.

Meanwhile, the Fed held rates at 3.5%–3.75% in an 11-1 vote, with inflation stuck near 3% and Powell describing a labor market at “zero employment growth equilibrium.” The economy could use some certainty about who’s steering. Instead, it gets a Latin phrase and a holding pattern.

Sources

• Powell says he will stay on as head of the Fed until Warsh is confirmed — CNBC
• Fed, Trump fight: Time is running out as Powell’s term nears its end — Axios
• Fed Chair Powell holds news briefing after interest rate left unchanged — PBS News
• Judge blocks DOJ subpoenas targeting Fed and Powell — The Hill
• Fed meeting: Here’s what changed in the March statement — CNBC
• Fed chair pick Kevin Warsh meets with more senators as Thom Tillis blockade continues — CNBC