Federal Reserve Board Director Steven Milan speaks on “Regulation, Supply Side, and Monetary Policy” at the Delphi Economic Forum lecture event at the National Gallery of Art in Athens, Greece, on January 14, 2026.
Luisa Gouriamaki | Reuters
Federal Reserve President Stephen Milan has resigned from his position as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, CNBC has confirmed.
Milan joined the Trump administration’s Council of Economic Advisers in January 2025. He has been absent from this position since September 2025, when he became a member of the Federal Reserve Board.
Mr. Milan was appointed by Mr. Biden in September to replace former Fed Director Adriana Kugler, who abruptly resigned in August. At the time, Millan said he planned to serve out Kugler’s term, which expires on January 31, and then return to his CEA post.
But he said at the time that he would resign from CEA if his time at the Fed extended beyond that date. President Donald Trump has not yet formally named a successor, but said last week that he would ultimately appoint former Fed Director Kevin Warsh as Fed chairman.
“Stephen Milan has submitted his resignation from the Council of Economic Advisers, consistent with the commitments he made to the Senate upon his confirmation to the Federal Reserve Board,” White House Press Secretary Khush Desai said in a statement. “Until Stephen’s leave began last September, his exceptional acumen and strong advocacy on behalf of the President made him an invaluable asset to the White House and established him as a key member of the Trump administration’s economic team.”
Since taking the Fed’s post, Mr. Millan has advocated for aggressive rate cuts. He has voted “no” at each of the four Federal Open Market Committee meetings he has attended. Central bank policymakers cut the benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point in three of those meetings. Milan insisted on a half-point deduction.
The bank most recently voted against policymakers’ decision to keep interest rates unchanged at a range of 3.5% to 3.75% at a meeting in January. He wanted to cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point.
In an interview Friday on CNBC’s “Money Movers,” Millan said his seat would be the only one open on Warsh’s board.
Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren said in a post on social media network X that Millan’s resignation was “141 days too late.”
This magazine was the first to report on Milan’s plan to withdraw from CEA.
