Ranking Member Warren Urges No at Stephen Miran Nomination Vote

Madame President, I rise today to oppose the nomination of Dr. Steven Myron 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. Myron, someone who intends to keep his White House job as the president's chief economic advisor 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 advisors, Larry Cuddlo, who said, quote, "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. Myron can be sworn in literally hours before the Fed's meeting tomorrow morning to determine interest rates. Now, the facts are clear. Donald Trump promised that he would lower costs in his words, quote, "On day one." Those were his words. He said it 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 health care 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. And again, he has failed. Job growth is down. The economy lost jobs in June. Unemployment is up and 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 could reverse course on his failing economic agenda. He could start helping families instead of turning everything over to his billionaire buddies. But 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. And 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 sore. This is not a hypothetical. When autocrats take over their central banks, inflation follows. Turkey hit nearly 80% inflation. Argentina reached nearly 200% inflation. And 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. Myron. It is a question of whether the Senate allows President Trump to succeed in this next phase of his very public, very obvious, monthsl long 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. Myron has spectacularly failed to demonstrate independence from dear leader Trump. During his confirmation hearing, Dr. Myron could not say the words, "Donald Trump lost the 2020 election." Making Dr. Myron the first admitted election denier to sit on the Federal Reserve Board. Dr. Myron refused to resign from his current job at the White House as the president's chief economic adviser at the Council of Economic Advisors. Dr. Myron's so-called leave of absence from the Council of Economic Adviserss 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% clear here. The vote we are taking today is not to confirm Dr. Myron for a 4month term at the Fed. The official vote. When the lights were off and the cameras stopped rolling, Dr. Myron 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. And even if none of this were happening, Dr. Meyer 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. Myron quote won't be independent in any fair definition of the word. Dr. Myron knows that if he is confirmed, every decision he makes and every vote he takes at the Fed determines whether or not he'll be able to go back to his White House job later on. That's not independence. That's 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. Myron's nomination.