April 21 - Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said on Tuesday he would "absolutely" oppose efforts to remove regional reserve bank presidents because of differences over interest rate decisions. The comment came during a public event in Washington when Waller was asked what he would do if asked to dismiss some reserve bank presidents over their views on monetary policy.
"Thats not the design of the system. Period," Waller said in response to the question. When David Wessel, director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy at the Brookings Institution, followed up asking whether Waller would be against such removals, Waller replied, "I would absolutely be against that."
The exchange followed a speech in which Waller set out a case for changing the day-to-day operations of the Fed's network of 12 regional reserve banks. He argued that administrative and support responsibilities - including human resources, technology support and deployment, and procurement - should be centralized and possibly consolidated. Waller emphasized that his operational reform proposal did not include changes to how regional bank presidents participate in U.S. monetary policymaking.
Waller's comments were made against a backdrop of intensified debate about the Federal Reserve's independence in setting monetary policy. The event occurred amid reports that President Donald Trump has sought to remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook and has threatened to remove Chair Jerome Powell if Powell remains at the Fed after his leadership term expires next month. Those pressures have heightened scrutiny of both governance and decision-making at the central bank.
The Fed's seven-member Board of Governors does have the legal mechanism, through a majority vote, to remove a regional bank president, although such a step has never been taken. Some observers have raised the possibility that a board majority could use that authority to replace reserve bank presidents whose policy views conflict with those of the board.
Separately, Kevin Warsh, President Trump's nominee to succeed Powell, faced a question on the same topic at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee earlier in the day. Warsh said his calls for what he described as "regime change" at the Fed related to how monetary policy is conducted.
Contextual note: The discussion linked Waller's operational reform proposals with broader questions about the Fed's internal governance and policy independence, and it unfolded while concerns about potential political interventions in personnel decisions at the central bank were publicly prominent.