This is an adapted excerpt from the Sept. 20 episode of “Velshi.”
For the first time since December 2024, the Federal Reserve decided to lower interest rates. It was a modest cut — interest rates will decrease by a quarter of a percentage point — but in announcing its decision last Wednesday, the Fed also signaled that it will likely make up to two more cuts before the end of the year.
The move was widely expected, following recent jobs data that indicates the economy may be weaker than previously thought. Hiring has slowed and the unemployment rate has ticked up slightly to 4.3% last month.
The Fed decision was nearly unanimous. Eleven of the 12 Federal Reserve Board members voted in favor of cutting interest rates by a quarter-point.
The lone holdout was Stephen Miran, the Fed’s newest member, who advocated for a larger, half-point rate cut. Miran’s elevation to this position is unusual in a few different ways. For one, he’s only been a Fed governor for less than a week. Last month, Donald Trump nominated him to fill a vacancy on the board after one member resigned before her term was set to expire in January 2026.
The Senate quickly confirmed Miran last Monday by the narrowest of margins, 48 to 47, largely along party lines. He was sworn in the next morning, shortly before the Federal Reserve was scheduled to begin its two-day meeting to discuss lowering interest rates.
But what’s more concerning is that Miran isn’t just a voting member of the Federal Reserve now. It’s that he also remains a member of the White House staff, a member of the executive branch of government, from which the Fed is supposed to be independent.
Earlier this year, Trump chose him to be the chair of the Council of Economic Advisers. But instead of resigning from that role upon his appointment to the Fed, Miran has chosen to take an unpaid leave of absence, leaving open the possibility of returning to the White House.
It’s the first time in the Federal Reserve’s 90-year history that a member of its board of governors has held a dual role as a member of the administration.
Many people, including lawmakers, believe that Miran’s appointment is blurring a lot of lines. Last week, Democrats in the Senate introduced a bill that would bar Federal Reserve officials from simultaneously holding a presidentially appointed role. It’s clearly in response to Miran’s appointment and it probably won’t get anywhere in the Republican-led Congress.
But the point is that the Federal Reserve is supposed to be independent. There are laws in the books, including the aptly named Federal Reserve Act, that are specifically intended to protect the institution and its members from political meddling.
Despite that, Trump has spent months attacking Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell as part of a pressure campaign to force the Fed to make steeper interest rate cuts and to make them much faster than most of its members seem inclined to do. Trump nominated Powell for the job of Fed chair during his first term, but the president is itching to replace him when his term expires next year.
Miran’s lone vote for a half-point cut this week is in line with what Trump wants to see. The president now has an inside man at the Federal Reserve who could try to influence the outcome of these important economic decisions, which should be nonpolitical and based on data.
And it’s clear Trump wants an even greater influence over the institution. He has already attempted to fire Fed governor Lisa Cook, who has since filed a lawsuit against the administration over her dismissal. Lower courts have ruled in favor of Cook so far, which has allowed her to remain on the board for now. But the White House has already asked the Supreme Court to review the case.
On Friday, Chief Justice John Roberts asked Cook to respond to the government’s appeal by Thursday, suggesting that the court won’t take any action before then.
Should Trump prevail in firing Cook, it could have wider implications regarding the powers of the presidency. But regardless of the outcome, it’s clear Trump’s efforts to get the Fed to bend the knee won’t stop there.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
