Stephen Miran, a member of the Federal Reserve’s board of governors, resigned as chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers on Tuesday.
Miran was appointed to the Fed board in September, filling the vacancy left by Adriana Kugler when she resigned early from her governorship. He took an unpaid leave from the White House to work at the central bank, an unusual arrangement that initially raised questions about the central bank’s independence.
President Donald Trump has pressured the Fed for months to lower interest rates and stimulate the economy. Miran was one of two members — along with Christopher Waller, who had been a potential Fed chair pick — at last week’s Fed meeting who voted to lower interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point.
The Fed ultimately maintained interest rates at 3.5% to 3.75%.
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Miran pledged last year during his Senate confirmation process to resign from his White House office if his tenure at the Fed continued beyond its Jan. 31 expiration date. He can stay in his Fed governor position until Trump confirms a replacement.
“Prior to the start of Stephen’s leave last September, his brilliant insights and powerful advocacy on behalf of the President made him an enormous asset for the White House, and he established himself as a key member of the Trump administration’s economic team,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai said.
Miran had previously expressed skepticism about economists moving between the Fed and the executive branch, arguing that Fed board members should be barred from holding executive positions for four years after their Fed term ends.
“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 a 2024 paper for the conservative Manhattan Institute.
Trump has made clear he wants the Fed Board to slash interest rates by hundreds of basis points, a key component of his affordability platform. The president has said he wanted his pick for the next Fed chair to be willing to cut rates.
On Friday, the president nominated Kevin Warsh, a former Fed board governor, to replace Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whose term expires in May. The stakes appear high for Powell’s successor; the current Fed chair announced he is the subject of a criminal investigation by the Department of Justice, which he says is political pressure to accede to Trump’s demands.
Trump said he had nothing to do with the probe. The investigation is related to the multibillion-dollar renovation of Fed office buildings.
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