After the hearing, the committee chairman, Senator John W. Warner, Republican of Virginia, issued an uncharacteristically tepid statement saying only that the committee "will continue to process this nomination".
"Pending Senator Craig's resignation, the committee will continue to review this matter," Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, and Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, the leaders of the Ethics Committee, wrote in a letter to Senate Republicans.
However, the committee will continue to pay close attention to the evolution of inflation and inflation expectations.
Nine closed hearings have been held, and in September and October the committee will continue with a series of open hearings.
In determining the size, pace, and composition of its asset purchases, the committee will continue to take appropriate account of the likely efficacy and costs of such purchases as well as the extent of progress toward its economic objectives.
The key sentence in its statement was: "The committee will continue to monitor the appropriate scale of the asset purchase programme and further purchases would be made should the outlook warrant them".
And it stressed that it was pausing, not stopping, QE: "The committee will continue to monitor the appropriate scale of the asset purchase programme and further purchases would be made should the outlook warrant them".
If the outlook for the labor market does not improve substantially, the committee will continue its purchases of Treasury and agency mortgage-backed securities and employ its other policy tools as appropriate, until such improvement is achieved in a context of price stability.
To support a stronger economic recovery and to help ensure that inflation, over time, is at the rate most consistent with its dual mandate, the committee will continue purchasing additional agency mortgage-backed securities at a pace of $40 billion per month.
"strongly opposes the Senate bill" and noted the House Democrats' language was "basically" the same, indicating the committee will continue to pursue piecemeal measures.
