Senate set to confirm Trump adviser Miran as Fed governor in time for crucial rate decision
The Senate is expected Monday night to officially confirm Stephen Miran as President Trump’s new nominee to the Federal Reserve Board, putting him in place just in time to cast a crucial vote at this week’s central bank policy meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Miran will replace former Fed governor Adriana Kugler, who left the Fed in August, an exit that offered Trump a new chance to put his stamp on the central bank.
The Fed is widely expected to lower its benchmark interest rate for the first time this year by a quarter percentage point at the conclusion of its meeting Wednesday afternoon.
Trump has been calling for a jumbo cut, and it remains to be seen whether Miran could dissent in favor of a larger reduction if the central bank does in fact cut by 25 basis points.
Stephen Miran, Trump’s new pick to join the Federal Reserve Board. (Reuters/Annabelle Gordon/File Photo) ·REUTERS / Reuters
Miran’s confirmation is part of a larger effort by the president to pack the Fed with members who favor lower rates.
Trump has tried to fire another Fed governor, Lisa Cook, on allegations that she claimed two properties she purchased as primary residences, actions that would give her more favorable financial loan terms.
But new findings over the weekend revealed that a condo Cook purchased in June 2021 was put down as a “vacation home” in a loan estimate — a characterization that could undermine claims by the Trump administration that she committed mortgage fraud.
Cook has asked a US district court to reject Trump’s emergency request, which would clear the way for the president to remove Cook from the Fed.
Fed governor Lisa Cook in 2023. (Reuters/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo) ·Reuters / Reuters
US District Judge Jia Cobb ruled last week that Cook could remain on the Fed’s board while disputing the president’s firing, saying the Trump administration hadn’t shown valid cause for removing her or respected her right to due process.
As of now, Cook remains on the board and will attend the Fed policy meeting, which begins Tuesday morning.
The Trump administration has asked an appeals court to reverse that decision.
The attempted firing of Cook and Miran’s appointment surfaced new questions about whether the appointment of a key White House adviser to the Fed’s governing body represents a new threat to central bank independence.
Miran told lawmakers during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee that he would act independently if confirmed, but he does not intend to resign from his current White House position as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers.
Instead, he would opt to take a leave of absence from the White House to serve on the central bank and then return after his term is up.
Democrats on the Banking Committee have asked that he resign from his White House job if he gets confirmed to the Fed — something Miran has not committed to doing.
Ahead of the Senate’s final vote Monday, the ranking Democratic member of the Senate Banking Committee, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), sent Miran a letter noting that he and Trump deny Americans are facing higher inflation and asked him about his reaction to August inflation data as measured by the Consumer Price Index.
The Consumer Price Index showed “core” prices, excluding volatile food and energy prices, rose 3.1% for the month of August, above the Fed’s target of 2%.
“As the Senate prepares to vote on your nomination, your reaction to August CPI numbers will help inform lawmakers as they weigh their votes and evaluate whether you will truly be an independent voice on the Fed Board — or whether you’ll remain a spokesperson for President Trump who ignores the real impact of his policies, which you’ve helped design, on businesses, workers, and consumers,” Warren wrote.
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon ·REUTERS / Reuters
Warren asked Miran whether he believes the Trump administration’s tariffs played any role in the uptick in consumer prices in August and whether he agrees with the president that there is no inflation.
Even though inflation is running about a full percentage point above the Fed’s target, Fed Chair Jerome Powell has noted that inflation from tariffs is likely to be a one-time increase in prices.
Weakening job growth has prompted Powell and other Fed officials to consider a rate cut as way of addressing the other side of its dual mandate. The Fed is responsible for maintaining stable prices and maximizing employment.
Miran has previously called for reforms to recalibrate the Fed’s governance to ensure it “remains insulated from day-to-day politics while enhancing its accountability and democratic legitimacy.”
In an essay last March for the Manhattan Institute, Miran called for increasing the president’s oversight of the Fed, shortening governors’ current 14-year terms, and imposing bans on what he called the revolving door between the executive branch and the Fed.
He also proposed that Fed members should be prohibited from serving in the executive branch for four years following the end of their term.
Miran also called for nationalizing the 12 regional Federal Reserve banks and giving the governors of the states in their districts the power to select each regional Fed’s board of directors, which in turn would select the president of the regional Fed bank.
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