Trump Fed Pick Talks Independence, Will Not Resign from White House Job

Claudia Sahm, chief economist at New Century Advisors, reacts to questioning of Stephen Miran, Trump's pick to fill a temporary spot on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, by the Senate Banking Committee. Miran faced heavy questioning by Senate democrats amid questions surrounding the Fed's independence.

President Donald Trump’s pick to fill a vacant seat on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors pushed back against Democratic concerns that he would merely do Trump’s bidding at the central bank, even as he acknowledged he would retain his White House job.

In his confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday, Stephen Miran said he intends to take an unpaid leave of absence from his post as chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers if confirmed to the Fed for a term that is set to expire at the end of January.

Miran also reiterated his commitment to central bank independence and pledged to make decisions based on his own analysis. He added that a central bank’s most important job is preventing depressions and hyperinflation.

The Trump administration official, who said he has spent much of his career studying monetary policy, last year wrote a paper detailing numerous proposals to overhaul the Fed, including ways to undercut its independence.

“If I’m confirmed to this role, I will act independently, as the Federal Reserve always does,” Miran said in response to a question from Senator Tim Scott, the Republican who heads the Banking Committee.

Democrats and some Republicans in the Senate have raised concern that any Trump appointee to the Fed would not be independent, making policy decisions based on the president’s desires and suggestions. Miran’s hearing did little to assuage those worries and his revelation that he intends to keep his White House job while serving at the Fed, rather than resign it altogether, may have exacerbated them.

Republicans on the panel showed no sign that any would oppose Miran. After the hearing, key Republican Thom Tillis of North Carolina told a Bloomberg reporter he planned to vote for Miran, likely clearing the way for a quick confirmation in the full Senate along party lines.

Tillis hasn’t been a fan of Trump’s efforts to bully the Fed, is a strong advocate for Fed independence on monetary policy and isn’t running for re-election.

But the news of Miran’s plans to stay at CEA prompted questions and criticism from several Democratic members of the committee, many of whom pointed to Miran’s own comments from his 2024 paper criticizing what he called a revolving door between the executive branch and the Fed.

“Short-circuiting the revolving door between the Fed and the executive branch is critical to reducing the incentives for officials to act in the short-term political interests of the president,” Miran wrote in that paper, adding that board members should be prohibited from serving in the executive branch for four years following the end of their Fed term.

Leave of Absence

“Your independence has already been seriously compromised by your statement — you are going to be technically an employee of the president of the United States but an independent member of the board of the Federal Reserve?” Senator Jack Reed said. “That’s ridiculous.”

Senator Chris Van Hollen noted that by not resigning the CEA post, Miran appears to want to return to the position after his short stint at the Fed is over. Van Hollen asked him a series of questions about whether he’d be working to please his old boss while at the Fed so that he could later return to the White House.

Miran said he had been advised on the issue by his lawyers and would resign his CEA post if he were nominated for a longer term at the Fed.

Miran also said that no one in the administration had asked him to commit to lowering interest rates, though he showed fealty to the president in other ways.

The first Democrat to speak during the hearing, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, opened her questions by asking Miran to state whether he believed Trump lost the 2020 election.

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