The U.S. Senate has approved the reappointment of Jerome Powell as head of the Federal Reserve System (Fed) for a second four-year term.

“For” the reappointment of 69-year-old Powell was given 89 votes with 19 votes “against”, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Powell’s first term as Fed chairman ended on February 5, and since then he has been the interim head of the Fed. U.S. President Joe Biden nominated Powell for a second term in November 2021, but the confirmation process for him and a number of other candidates for vacant Fed posts has been delayed.

In April, the Senate confirmed Lail Brainard as Fed vice chair, and this week approved the nominations of Lisa Cook and Philip Jefferson for two other vacant positions on the U.S. central bank’s board of governors.

Last month, Biden also nominated Michael Barr to be vice chairman for banking supervision at the Fed. The Senate is scheduled to vote on his nomination on May 19.

Powell said Thursday that the Fed intends to act decisively to bring U.S. inflation back to the 2 percent target, even if it creates problems for the economy in the short term.

“‘This process will be painful, but the most difficult part will be if we can’t get a handle on inflation,’ Powell said in an interview on the Marketplace radio program. – ‘We would end up having to go through a much deeper recession.”