(Reuters) – The U.S. Senate kept the door open on Thursday for President Donald Trump’s economic adviser Stephen Miran to be seated at the Federal Reserve’s policy-setting table in time to vote on interest rate policy next week.
The next step in Miran’s confirmation, a vote by the full Senate, has been planned for Monday evening, according to the Senate schedule set by Republican leaders.
Lawmakers would first take a procedural vote that, if approved, would clear the way for Miran’s confirmation by the Republican-majority body. That would leave a narrow window for him to complete the remaining steps, including paperwork and a swearing-in, before the Fed is set to start a two-day meeting before noon on Tuesday.
With the labor market showing signs of weakening, the central bank is widely expected to approve a quarter-point reduction to the policy rate in a vote to take place on Wednesday.
It’s not unprecedented for a Fed governor to jump into the role with little notice. Seventeen years ago, as the global financial crisis was gathering steam, Betsy Duke was sworn in at the Fed Board with just half an hour to spare before the start of the Fed’s August 8, 2008, meeting.
The Senate had confirmed her in late June.
No Fed governor in recent history has been sworn in sooner than four days after their Senate confirmation.
A faster timeline would underscore the urgency with which Trump is moving to exert control over the central bank, which has kept rates on hold all year on concern that Trump’s tariffs could reignite inflation.
Recent labor market weakness has moved a number of Fed policymakers, including Fed Chair Jerome Powell, toward supporting a careful rate cut.
Miran, who will take unpaid leave from his White House job, may dissent in the upcoming vote to show his support for the deeper cut that Trump wants, analysts say.
(Reporting by Bo Erickson and Ann Saphir; Editing by Edmund Klamann)
Comments