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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
Trump pick Stephen Miran confirmed as Federal Reserve governor | |
By Bryan Mena, Morgan Rimmer, CNN | |
Updated: | |
9:00 PM EDT, Mon September 15, 2025 | |
Source: CNN | |
Stephen Miran, one of President Donald Trump’s top economic advisers, | |
on Monday was confirmed by the Senate to serve on the Federal | |
Reserve’s powerful Board of Governors, hours before the Fed’s two | |
day monetary policy meeting begins. | |
The Senate voted 48-47 to confirm Miran. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska | |
was the only Republican to vote against Miran’s confirmation. | |
Once sworn in as a Fed governor, Miran will immediately be one of 12 | |
officials voting on interest rate decisions. Miran was nominated to | |
fill the remaining time in former Fed Governor Adriana Kugler’s term, | |
which was set to expire in January 2026. Miran has said he will not | |
resign from his influential post at the White House while he serves on | |
the Fed’s board, instead taking unpaid leave. | |
The Fed, by law and tradition, has remained independent and | |
nonpartisan. Now for the first time in its 111-year history, a member | |
of the Fed’s Board of Governors is also technically an employee of | |
the president. During his Senate confirmation hearing, Miran said he | |
was advised by an attorney that doing so is legal and that he plans to | |
carry out his duties as a Fed governor independently. | |
Miran’s confirmation comes at a pivotal moment for the Fed. | |
The US labor market is weakening as Trump’s widespread tariffs start | |
to push up some prices, simultaneously threatening both sides of the | |
Fed’s dual mandate — stable prices and full employment. | |
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has carried out an unprecedented | |
pressure campaign against the Fed, blasting the central bank for not | |
lowering interest rates. The effort has involved personal insults | |
lobbed at Fed Chair Jerome Powell and the attempted firing of Fed | |
Governor Lisa Cook, the first time a president has ever acted to remove | |
a top policymaker at the central bank. ( rejected, for now, Trump’s | |
attempt to terminate Cook.) | |
Miran’s confirmation represents a major milestone in Trump’s | |
ongoing bid to bend the historically independent Fed to his will. | |
Miran told senators during his confirmation hearing he believes the | |
Fed’s independence “is critical to the well functioning of the | |
economy and financial markets.” He added that he will abide by ethics | |
rules and federal law as a Fed governor. | |
Democrats remain skeptical of Miran’s transition from chair of the | |
Council of Economic Advisers to Fed governor. | |
During his hearing before the Senate Banking Committee, Democrats | |
questioned Miran’s ability to distance himself from Trump, raising | |
concerns over his plans to take a leave of absence while serving at the | |
Fed. There was no Republican opposition to his nomination during the | |
hearing. | |
Some Democrats characterized Miran’s nomination as ironic, pointing | |
to a Manhattan Institute paper he co-authored last year criticizing the | |
revolving door of leaders between the White House and the Fed. | |
In response, Miran said his paper simply laid out proposals to reform | |
the Fed and that “it’s important that we have democratic | |
oversight.” | |
“I’m very independently minded, as shown by my willingness to stray | |
from consensus and have out-of-consensus views, and I believe that I | |
will continue to be as independent in my thinking process, if | |
confirmed,” Miran said during the hearing. | |
This story has been updated with additional context. | |
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