[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 150 (Monday, September 15, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6589-S6590]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                      Nomination of Stephen Miran

  Ms. WARREN. Madam President, I rise today to oppose the nomination of 
Dr. Stephen Miran to serve on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.
  President Trump has run a monthslong campaign to turn the Fed into 
his personal piggy bank in an attempt to escape accountability for his 
own economic failures. He has tried to intimidate and threaten to fire 
Federal Chair Jerome Powell. And when that didn't work, he illegally 
attempted to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook so that he could seize control 
of the Board. Both of those failed. So now he is attempting to install 
his own puppet on the Board with Dr. Miran, someone who intends to keep 
his White House job as the President's chief economic adviser open 
while serving at the Fed, setting up an unprecedented and unacceptable 
conflict of interest that will only ultimately cause more pain for 
American families.
  Don't just take it from me. Take it from one of the President's 
closest advisers, Larry Kudlow, who said:

       The bottom line is, President Trump's going to take the Fed 
     over, as he should.

  And Senate Republicans are facilitating it, including by jamming 
through this nomination at warp speed so that Dr. Miran can be sworn in 
literally hours before the Fed's meeting tomorrow morning to determine 
interest rates.
  The facts are clear: Donald Trump promised that he would lower costs, 
in his words, ``on day one.'' Those were his words. He said them over 
and over as he ran for President: He would lower costs on day one. He 
didn't. Now the cost of groceries: up. The cost of utility bills: up. 
The cost of housing: up. The cost of healthcare: up. The cost of back-
to-school shoes and backpacks and baby strollers: up and up and up.
  He also promised a golden age for American workers. Again, he has 
failed. Job growth is down. The economy lost jobs in June. Unemployment 
is up. People are staying unemployed longer, and worker confidence in 
the labor market is at its lowest since the end of the great financial 
crisis.
  Donald Trump can reverse course on his failing economic agenda. He 
could start helping families instead of turning everything over to his 
billionaire buddies. Instead, Trump wants to point the finger at 
everyone else and make the Federal Reserve his scapegoat.
  If Republicans let Trump interfere with the Federal Reserve, American 
families and businesses will pay the price in terms of higher costs 
going forward. Here is why: Congress created an independent Fed to keep 
politicians from making shortsighted economic decisions that would 
benefit the politicians politically. Sometimes the Fed is called on to 
make really hard decisions about when to raise interest rates when 
fighting inflation, and the whole world needs to know that the Fed is 
making these decisions based on data rather than being influenced by 
politicians. If the Fed loses its credibility, businesses and consumers 
will stop trusting the Fed to control inflation, and they will start 
acting like inflation is here to stay, and that will make prices soar.
  This is not a hypothetical. When autocrats take over their central 
banks, inflation follows. Turkiye hit nearly 80-percent inflation. 
Argentina reached nearly 200-percent inflation. Even here in America, 
back when Richard Nixon pressured the Fed to serve his political needs 
instead of American families', prices went up. If Trump can control the 
Fed, the cost of Americans' credit cards and car loans and home 
mortgages and student loans and more will all be higher.
  So today's vote is not just about Dr. Miran; it is a question of 
whether the Senate allows President Trump to succeed in this next phase 
of his very public, very obvious, monthslong campaign to stack the Fed 
with loyalists who will prioritize Trump's personal whims over 
America's long-term economic health.
  And throughout this confirmation process, Dr. Miran has spectacularly

[[Page S6590]]

failed to demonstrate independence from dear Leader Trump. During his 
confirmation hearing, Dr. Miran could not say the words ``Donald Trump 
lost the 2020 election,'' making Dr. Miran the first admitted election 
denier to sit on the Federal Reserve Board.
  Dr. Miran refuses to resign from his current job at the White House 
as the President's chief economic adviser at the Council of Economic 
Advisers. Dr. Miran's so-called leave of absence from the Council of 
Economic Advisers is also just a joke. He will be sitting literally 
down the street from the White House, and he has refused to disclose 
any communications he has with the White House while he is at the Fed.
  And, look, let's be 100-percent clear here. The vote we are taking 
today is not to confirm Dr. Miran for a 4-month term at the Fed, the 
official vote. When the lights were off and the cameras stopped 
rolling, Dr. Miran confirmed in writing that he will not rule out 
staying in his seat after his term expires this January. That means he 
could serve as a Fed Governor and as the President's chief economist 
simultaneously for an indefinite period.
  Even if none of this were happening, Dr. Miran is a terrible choice 
for this job. He continues to callously dismiss the fact that Trump's 
policies are raising prices for families. He compares tariff-driven 
inflation to a meteor strike while dodging questions about his own 
financial disclosures.
  Now, look, you won't hear me say this often, but I agree with the 
Wall Street Journal editorial board when it said that Dr. Miran ``won't 
be independent in any fair definition of the word.'' Dr. Miran knows 
that if he is confirmed, every decision he makes and every vote he 
takes at the Fed determines whether or not he will be able to go back 
to his White House job later on. That is not independence--that is 
servitude--and he will have zero credibility with markets, zero 
credibility with businesses, and zero credibility with the public if he 
is ultimately confirmed.
  Many Republican Senators have paid lip service to the importance of 
Fed independence. Well, if you actually mean it, then you should vote 
no. Otherwise, we are sentencing American families to years of higher 
prices and higher unemployment.
  I urge my colleagues to vote no on Dr. Miran's nomination.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. PADILLA. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.