The US Senate on Tuesday confirmed Kevin Warsh for a 14-year term as governor of the Federal Reserve, marking an important step towards his successor Jerome Powell as the next leader of the US central bank.

Here are some details and context:

The vote passed 51-45, with a single Democrat from Pennsylvania, John Fetterman, casting his vote with the Republican majority.

The Senate began the confirmation process for Warsh’s four-year concurrent term as Fed chairman, holding a so-called cloture vote as early as Wednesday to begin the countdown to approving him for the leadership post. Powell’s term as chairman ends on Friday.

A lawyer, financier and former Fed governor, Warsh is set to lead the Fed at a time when the central bank’s political independence is being tested by the administration’s push to cut interest-rates demanded by President Donald Trump.

Trump’s unprecedented efforts to take control of the Fed include an attempt to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook, which is currently before the Supreme Court, and to uphold a Justice Department investigation into Powell’s handling of building renovations after a federal judge ruled that there was a pretext to pressure Powell to resign or cut rates.

The DOJ dropped its investigation, but its chief prosecutor in Washington says she may reopen it.

Powell plans to take the unusual step of staying on as governor beyond the end of his term as chair, in response to “a series of legal attacks on the Fed that threaten our ability to conduct monetary policy regardless of political factors.”

Warsh says he plans “regime change” at the Fed, including tightening its coordination with the Treasury Department and the Trump administration on non-monetary policies and setting it on a course for a smaller balance sheet, which he argues should allow for lower policy rates.

A surge in oil prices since the start of the Iran war has pushed up inflation and dampened investor expectations for interest rate cuts this year. Financial markets are currently pricing in a one in three chance of a rate hike by December. The Fed’s current target range for short-term borrowing costs is 3.50%-3.75%.

The Fed chair has one of 12 votes on the interest-rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee and one of 19 votes at the policy-setting table.

The Fed’s next meeting, likely its first under the chairmanship of Warsh, is scheduled for June 16-17. (Reporting by Richard Cowan, Writing by Ann Safir; Editing by Dan Burns)