Business

Fed Governor Stephen Miran resigns as the Kevin Warsh era begins.

By Mary Helen Gillespie TheStreet

Updated May 16, 2026 1:25 PM

Fed Governor Stephen Miran, President Donald Trump's top ambassador for drastically lowering interest rates since joining the central bank last fall, is moving on.

Miran submitted his resignation letter to the president May 14, which said it was effective when Kevin Warsh is sworn in as the next Chair of the central bank.

The letter also outlined Miran's accomplishments during his temporary tenure, especially his insistence on the appropriate monetary policy that the Fed must adopt to counteract biases in the way it measures inflation.

"If the Federal Reserve doesn't adjust for these errors, it will run unemployment higher than it has to, fighting fake rather than real inflation. I have argued forcefully against this dynamic,'' the letter said.

Fed's mandate requires a tricky balance

The Fed's dual mandate from Congress requires maximum employment and stable prices.

Lower interest rates support hiring but can fuel inflation. This risks fueling further inflation, potentially leading to an inflationary spiral.
Higher rates cool prices but can weaken the job market. This increases borrowing costs and further stifles economic activity.

Miran addresses Iran War's energy shock

Miran outlined his view of the appropriate policy response to a surge in inflation driven by a supply shock, such as today's soaring oil prices, in a May 15 interview with CNBC.

He said it takes roughly 12 to 18 months for changes in Fed policy to affect the economy. That sets limits on the kind of price changes that the Fed should be concerned about today, he said.

Consider a clothing company that has had to raise prices to cover the cost of tariffs, Miran said.

"If you think that a higher tariff is going to boost clothing prices today, there's nothing you can do about that with monetary policy," Miran said.

The same goes for the Iran War's oil shock, he said. It may push up individual prices today, but the kind of inflation the Fed should care about is an ongoing, upward trend in prices, not one-off events.

"That's the thing with supply shocks, is that you need to be forecasting more supply shocks," he said.

Miran's departure makes room for Warsh

Miran's exit makes room on the seven-member Board of Governors for Warsh since outgoing Chair Jerome Powell is staying on the board indefinitely pending the resolution of the administration's legal attacks on him and the central bank.

Powell's term as Chair ended May 15, and his term on the board ends in January 2028.

The Fed announced late May 15 that the Board of Governors named Powell chair pro tempore pending Warsh's swearing-in ceremony, which has yet to be scheduled.

This temporary action to name the incumbent as chair pro tempore is consistent with past practice during similar transitions between chairs.

Miran pushed for rate cuts at every FOMC meeting

The Federal Open Markets Committee, in a decisive 8-4 vote on April 29, held the benchmark Federal Funds Rate steady at 3.50% to 3.75%.

Fed watchers agree that the hawkish tea leaves spilling out of the most divisive vote in over 30 years indicated that three of the dissenters did not believe it was appropriate for the FOMC to signal that the next interest rate action could be to lower rates while inflation risk ticks up from the energy shocks of the Iran War.

Not Miran.

For the sixth time since joining the Board of Governors in September -- after Fed Governor Adriana Kugler abruptly resigned because of family members' stock trading improprieties -- Miran voted for a rate cut.

Even when the Fed voted to cut rates, as it did in its last three meetings in 2025, Miran dissented in favor of larger ones.

"I've laid out my math," he said. "I've always done what I think is right."

Miran's appointment raised concerns about Fed independence

Miran was chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers when Trump named him to fill Kugler's seat in August 2025.

Miran initially took a leave of absence from that role, finally resigning in February.

His appointment raised concerns inside and outside of the Fed as an accelerated attempt by Trump to drastically reduce interest rates to 1% or lower.

This threat to Fed independence rattled economists and global markets.

Miran said he was valuable to the president because he looked at the economic evidence and concluded that interest rates were too high.

In his resignation letter, he emphasized that given monetary policy lags, policymaking needs to be forward-looking and begin to incorporate reforms immediately.

This approach mirrors what Warsh has been promoting -- a Fed "regime change" -- since he resigned from the Board of Governors in 2011 over a policy dispute.

Miran's background includes public, private sectors

Miran, 42, previously worked as a senior strategist at Hudson Bay Capital Management and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.

From 2020 to 2021, he served as senior adviser for economic policy in the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

He worked in financial markets for a decade before joining the Treasury.

Miran received a B.A. in economics, philosophy, and mathematics from Boston University and a doctorate in economics from Harvard University.

He told CNBC he currently has no plans to return to the Fed.

The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.

This story was originally published May 16, 2026 at 1:00 PM.