By Ann Saphir
March 4 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Wednesday sent the U.S. Senate his nomination of former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh to be the U.S. central bank's next chair, ticking off an early step in what promises to be a contentious path toward his long-held goal of installing a rate-cut friendly Fed chief.
Warsh, who would take over from Jerome Powell after his leadership term ends May 15, would serve a four-year-term that began February 1, according to a notice on the White
House website. That's the seat currently occupied by Fed Governor Stephen Miran, another rate-cut advocate whom Trump nominated in September.
The next public step in the process is a hearing by the Senate Banking committee; a spokesman for the panel did not immediately respond to a request for information on the timing.
One of the committee's members, Republican Senator Thom Tillis, has promised to block any Fed nomination as long as a Department of Justice investigation into Powell regarding his testimony to the panel about central bank building renovations in Washington remains open.
Tillis says the probe is frivolous and amounts to intimidation by the Trump administration, which is frustrated with Powell for not cutting interest rates as quickly or deeply as it would like.
The Fed's insulation from short-term political considerations is widely considered essential to its ability to keep inflation under control and steer the economy to a healthy footing.
(Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
