The Senate voted 48-47 on Monday to confirm White House chief economist Stephen Miran to the Federal Reserve board, paving the way for him to participate in the central bank’s interest-rate setting meeting that begins Tuesday.
Miran’s addition to the Fed will be President Donald Trump’s first concrete mark on the institution during his second term, and it could give him unusually direct influence over a member of the central bank, which is designed to be insulated from short-term political pressures.
Miran is merely taking a leave of absence from his job as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, rather than resigning, an arrangement that Republican senators decided not to contest, citing the fact that Miran’s term on the Fed is set to expire in January.
Trump has spent much of the year haranguing Fed Chair Jerome Powell for keeping rates elevated, and Miran has also suggested that borrowing costs should be cut. But Powell has already signaled that the Fed will lower rates this week regardless of the Trump adviser’s presence, citing weakening in the job market.
Miran, who holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University, says he plans to return to the White House at the end of his term, though he has not formally committed to leaving the Fed at that time and could stay on indefinitely unless the president taps someone else for the seat.
The length of his tenure could depend on whether Trump is successful in his bid to fire Fed board member Lisa Cook, a matter that is being litigated. If Cook stays at the central bank, Miran’s seat could be the only open spot available for Trump’s choice for Fed chair.
Before joining the White House, Miran proposed reforms to the Fed that would give the president more authority over the central bank, including making it easier to fire board members and shortening their 14-year terms.
Since his time in the administration, he has argued that tariffs are unlikely to lead to the kind of inflation that would require a policy response from the Fed. Powell, for his part, has cited uncertainty over the impact of tariffs on prices as a prime reason that he held the line on interest rates, but in recent weeks has cited risks to the job market as more pressing.
Read the full article here