Congress has earned a reputation as a slow and plodding institution, with tedious and time-consuming procedures, but every once in a while, lawmakers move with remarkable speed.
Take Stephen Miran’s nomination to serve as a governor at the Federal Reserve, for example.
Miran, the chairman of the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers, is a Donald Trump loyalist who’s been critical of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, which helped explain why the president nominated him on Aug. 7. Senate Republicans proceeded to rush his nomination through the confirmation process — not because of an emergency or because he was uncontroversial, but because the White House wanted a Trump ally in place for the next meeting on interest rates.
That plan worked out nicely for the president. NBC News reported:
The Senate voted Monday night to confirm Stephen Miran to the Federal Reserve Board, bringing it a step closer to President Donald Trump’s vision as he pressures the central bank to lower interest rates. He was confirmed in a 48-47 vote. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, was the only Republican to vote against him. No Democrats crossed the aisle.
The vote was held about half a day before the Fed meeting got underway.
There were plenty of problems with Miran’s nomination, which helped explain the bipartisan opposition, starting with the fact that he doesn’t intend to resign from his White House role, choosing instead to take an unpaid leave of absence.
This was, not surprisingly, seen by Senate Democrats as a serious problem during his confirmation hearing.
Sen. Jack Reed: "Your independence has already been seriously compromised. You're going to be technically an employee of POTUS, but an independent member of the Board of the Federal Reserve. That's ridiculous."
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Soon after, one former Fed governor, Sarah Bloom Raskin, said: “I would predict that a clear-eyed Senate would view this proposed arrangement as contrary to the Federal Reserve Act, and a show stopper.”
About a week later, just about every Senate Republican did what Trump told them to do and voted to confirm Miran anyway.
As for one of Miran’s newest colleagues, the White House’s case against Fed governor Lisa Cook started to unravel in recent days, but the president’s lawyers nevertheless asked U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to allow Trump to fire her ahead of the next meeting on interest rates.
The appeals court rejected the effort.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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