Senate Confirms Stephen Miran as Fed Governor

Senate Republicans on Monday confirmed Stephen Miran, one of President Trump’s top economic advisers, to serve as Federal Reserve governor, muscling past the objections of Democrats who doubted that he could resist the political influence of the White House.

Republicans swiftly approved Mr. Miran on a 48-47 vote, largely along party lines, just days after they reconfigured the chamber’s rules so they could more easily advance the president’s nominees. For Mr. Miran, the outcome opened the door for him to join the Fed in time for its two-day meeting, beginning Tuesday, where policymakers are preparing to lower interest rates after an extended pause.

Since the start of Mr. Trump’s second term, Mr. Miran has served as the chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, where he helped to produce research to advance and defend the president’s agenda, including his punishing global tariffs. Like Mr. Trump, Mr. Miran believes those duties have not caused inflation, and he has shared the president’s criticism of the Fed.

In an unorthodox arrangement, Mr. Miran said he planned to take only a leave of absence from his advisory post, serving a potentially short term at the Fed before returning to the White House. That decision has prompted concern from Democrats, economists and former government officials, including some Republicans, who said it posed a severe conflict of interest and threatened to expose the central bank to political interference.

Even Mr. Miran previously endorsed a ban on what he described last year as the “revolving door between the executive branch and the Fed.”

As a Fed governor, Mr. Miran would have the ability to vote on interest rates, as well as a range of other policy decisions. Critics said he might be unable to make difficult choices to prevent inflation and protect the economy if doing so proved politically damaging to the president who employs him.

At his confirmation hearing, Mr. Miran sought to emphasize his commitment to independence. He promised lawmakers he would “dutifully carry out my role pursuant to the mandates assigned by Congress” and make decisions based on his analysis of the economy “and what’s best for its long-term stewardship.”

But his appeal occurred against the backdrop of an all-out campaign by Mr. Trump to remake the roster of the central bank and browbeat its members into lowering borrowing costs, which the Fed has kept steady so far this year.

Mr. Miran could wind up serving at the central bank well beyond the scheduled end of his short term, which runs through January. Mr. Trump tapped him to a Fed seat that was created last month after the sudden departure of a governor, Adriana D. Kugler. Until the president names a successor, Mr. Miran can technically stay on in the role.

Mr. Trump has already hinted that he could also look to install Mr. Miran in another Fed position: the seat held by Lisa Cook, the board member whom the president has tried to fire in a move blocked this month by a federal court. Late Monday, a panel of federal judges denied a last-minute bid by Mr. Trump to fire Ms. Cook, and keep her from the Fed meeting this week, as the two sides continued to wrangle over the legality of her potential ouster.

Mr. Trump will also have the opportunity to name a new chair, a vacancy that will open up in May, when Jerome H. Powell’s term expires.

“Donald Trump is full speed ahead in trying to take over the Fed,” Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, said in an interview days before she voted against Mr. Miran’s confirmation.

Ms. Warren also rebuked Republicans for trying to “race this nomination through,” as she raised renewed concern about Mr. Miran’s background and the legal issues surrounding his plans to return to the White House.

One Republican, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, voted against Mr. Miran’s confirmation. She said it was a matter of “appearances,” given his ties to the White House, not one of qualifications.

“We want it, need it, to be that independent board, and so anything that would compromise even the perception of independence, I was looking at very carefully,” Ms. Murkowski told reporters on Monday, adding the “cleanest” option would have been for Mr. Miran to resign from his post at the White House.

Mr. Miran served at the Treasury Department during Mr. Trump’s first term before joining Hudson Bay Capital Management, a hedge fund, as a senior strategist. Before the president’s re-election, Mr. Miran wrote a contentious report known as the Mar-a-Lago Accord, named after Mr. Trump’s resort, that advocated for weakening the value of the dollar to make American goods more competitive abroad.

Mr. Miran at times has been fiercely critical of the Fed and its structure, as well as its policymaking and members, including Mr. Powell, a frequent target of the president’s ire. Mr. Miran faulted the Fed under Mr. Powell this year for failing to anticipate inflation after federal stimulus spending during the coronavirus pandemic.

More recently, Mr. Miran has used his perch at the helm of the Council of Economic Advisers to echo Mr. Trump’s view that the economy is booming, with significant growth on the horizon, due in part to the recent tax cuts the president has signed into law. In his advocacy and research, Mr. Miran has also maintained that the president’s tariffs have not caused prices to rise, even as many economists — and recent data — have indicated the steep duties have started to make goods more expensive.

Megan Mineiro contributed reporting.