WASHINGTON: The US Senate on Monday (Sep 15) narrowly confirmed Stephen Miran to the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, expanding President Donald Trump‘s influence over the world’s most important central bank and handing his top economic adviser one of 12 interest-rate-setting votes on the eve of a key policy meeting.
The 48-47, largely party-line vote in the Republican-controlled Senate on Monday marked the final step of a swift process that began in August when Adriana Kugler resigned unexpectedly as a Fed governor, creating an opening on the seven-member Fed board for Trump to fill with someone more amenable to lowering interest rates, as the president has demanded for all year.
It typically takes months for a Fed governor nominee to be confirmed by the Senate; in Miran‘s case, it took fewer than six weeks.
Pending the completion of paperwork and his swearing-in, Miran will take part in the US central bank’s two-day policy meeting that starts on Tuesday. Fed policymakers are expected to approve a quarter-percentage-point rate cut to support a weakening labour market at the end of the meeting on Wednesday.
Analysts anticipate that Miran will dissent on the policy decision in favour of a bigger rate cut, though not necessarily the several-percentage-point reduction that Trump has demanded.
As the head of the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers, Miran has repeatedly said he believes the Republican president’s hefty import tariffs won’t cause inflation and that the president’s other policies, including his immigration crackdown, will ease broad price pressures by reducing demand for housing.
