Stephen Miran, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and US Federal Reserve governor nominee for US President Donald Trump, during a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee confirmation hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025.
Daniel Heuer | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The Senate is expected to vote Monday on President Donald Trump’s pick to join the Federal Reserve, Stephen Miran, one day before the central bank is set to meet to consider cutting interest rates.
A procedural vote on Miran’s nomination to the Fed Board of Governors is expected to begin at 5:30 p.m. ET, before a final confirmation vote at around 8 p.m.
If confirmed, Miran said he would take an unpaid leave of absence from his current role as chair of the White House’s Council of Economic Advisors, without fully resigning.
That prospect has further inflamed concerns about the Fed’s independence, which were already heightened by Trump’s escalating efforts to get the central bank to slash benchmark interest rates.
Markets are expecting the central bank to cut rates for the first time since December 2024, but questions remain over how deep the cuts might be.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell has so far resisted the president’s pressure campaign, but he signaled last month that economic conditions — including uncertainty caused by tariffs — may warrant cuts at the September meeting.
If he participates in the two-day Fed meeting starting Tuesday, Miran would likely not be the decisive vote on rate cuts. The Federal Open Market Committee voted 9-2 to keep rates steady at its last meeting in late July.
But critics say Miran could try to influence the committee, and they warn that his presence undermines the central bank’s independence from the White House.
“One day of serving as the President’s chief economist and a supposedly independent Governor at the Fed would be one day too many,” Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said before Miran made it through her committee on a party-line vote last week.
Trump picked Miran to fill the seat being vacated by Governor Adriana Kugler, who abruptly announced her resignation in August.
Miran would serve until Jan. 31, the date when Kugler’s term was set to expire.
“The term for which I’ve been nominated is four and a half months. If I am nominated and confirmed for a longer term than just a handful of months, I would absolutely resign,” Miran said at his hearing.
Miran’s fast-tracked confirmation vote comes as Trump has moved to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook from the central bank, citing allegations of mortgage fraud put forward by his administration.
Cook, the first Black woman to serve as a Fed governor, has denied the allegations and sued to block her removal.
A judge last week blocked Trump from firing Cook as the lawsuit over her termination plays out. Trump has asked a federal appeals court to pause that lower-court ruling before Tuesday’s Fed meeting.
This is developing news. Please check back for updates.
