WASHINGTON—Federal Reserve independence dominated Thursday’s Senate Banking Committee hearing, where lawmakers from both parties pressed Stephen Miran, President Donald Trump’s economic advisor and nominee to the Fed’s seven-member board, to pledge political neutrality, Reuters reported.
The scrutiny comes as Trump intensifies efforts to assert influence over the central bank, whose credibility in managing inflation depends heavily on insulating interest-rate decisions from political pressure.
As CUToday.info reported, in a highly unusual move last week, President Trump announced he was firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook and had already begun considering successors. Cook quickly sued, contending that Trump’s unproven allegation of mortgage fraud during her time as an economics professor was merely a pretext to illegally remove her after she resisted pressure to cut interest rates. She remains in her post while the case proceeds, and the Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation.
Miran has aligned with Trump’s view that the Fed should sharply reduce rates and co-authored a paper last year supporting the idea that presidents should have authority to dismiss Fed governors at will. Still, during the hearing he insisted he would uphold the Fed’s independence and base decisions on sound analysis and the long-term health of the economy, Reuters said.
"That said, I'm always happy to hear views from every source possible...to challenge my own views and interrogate them," Miran said Thursday, according to Reuters.
Senators were pointed in their questions, Reuters noted.
"Are you a Donald Trump puppet," asked Senator John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican.
"Not at all," Miran responded.
"We are going to hold you to that," Kennedy said.