Two days after the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates, Stephen Miran, an adviser to President Trump who now serves on the central bank’s board of governors, confirmed he was the only member at the meeting to endorse a swifter and steeper cut.
That made Mr. Miran the dissenting vote in the Fed’s decision this week to reduce borrowing costs by a quarter of a percentage point. But the new Fed governor, who detailed his thinking Friday on CNBC, said he came to the determination independently from the White House, where he has taken a leave of absence during his service at the central bank.
“I will do independent analysis based on my interpretation of the data, based on my interpretation of the economy,” Mr. Miran said. “And that’s all that I will do.”
Those comments were Mr. Miran’s first since joining the Fed, and they underscored the delicate political dance he faces given the unique circumstances of his appointment. Until the president nominated him to fill a roughly four-month vacancy, Mr. Miran had served as the chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, where he produced research to defend and advance Mr. Trump’s policy agenda.
The unorthodox arrangement has stoked concerns about conflicts of interest, given the Fed’s longstanding political independence from the White House. Mr. Trump has regularly attacked the central bank in pursuit of lower interest rates, and many economists and former government officials have questioned whether Mr. Miran can put the health of the economy over the political needs of the president now that he is directly involved in setting the nation’s monetary policy.
On Friday, Mr. Miran signaled he could resign his posting at the White House if he were appointed to a longer term at the Fed. He also acknowledged he spoke with Mr. Trump on Tuesday morning, before the central bank convened its two-day meeting.
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The post New to the Fed, Miran Defends Calls for Sharper Reduction in Interest Rates appeared first on New York Times.
