(Reuters) – Democratic lawmakers on the U.S. Senate Banking Committee have demanded that Stephen Miran pledge to resign from his job as chief White House economic adviser before the Republican-controlled panel takes any more steps to advance his nomination for a seat on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors.
Miran said at his confirmation hearing last week he had been legally advised that he need only take an unpaid leave from the White House’s Council of Economic Advisors because the Fed job he is seeking only runs through the end of January, and “that is what I would be taking.”
The Democratic senators on the panel noted that his term could last longer, depending on the time it took to confirm a successor, and said the dual role created a potential conflict between his duty as both a central banker and an adviser to President Donald Trump.
“It is ludicrous to contend that you could exercise independent judgment regarding monetary policy and financial regulation,” a majority of the panel’s Democratic members said in a letter that demanded Miran commit to resign his White House job by September 8.
“Without that commitment, we believe the committee should not move forward with your nomination,” they wrote in the letter, which was dated Friday. The panel has indicated it will vote to send Miran’s nomination to the full U.S. Senate on Wednesday, and none of the committee’s Republican members indicated at last week’s hearing or since that Miran’s decision to keep his White House job troubled them.
The Federal Reserve Act requires U.S. central bank governors to devote their “entire time” to the board’s business. The Democratic lawmakers’ letter demanded a copy of the legal analysis that Miran said would allow him to serve at the Fed while remaining an unpaid White House employee, suggesting the arrangement “may be inconsistent” with the law.
“Based on legal guidance, if confirmed, Stephen Miran may take an unpaid leave of absence from his CEA position,” White House spokesman Kush Desaiand said. A spokesman for Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott declined to comment.
(Reporting by Ann Saphir, Andrea Shalal, Editing by Paul Simao and Nick Zieminski)
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