Fed Cuts Rate Votes Starting 2027

The Federal Reserve will hold one fewer meeting to set interest rates beginning in 2027, Chairman Kevin Warsh announced on Wednesday. The central bank currently schedules eight policy meetings each year, a practice maintained since 1981.

Starting next fall, one of those eight sessions will shift from voting on rates to examining broad economic questions. Warsh stated that the number of these strategic sessions will expand to two in 2028. This change reduces the annual rate-setting calendar to seven meetings in 2027 and six by 2028.

Warsh explained the move allows policymakers to focus on long-term issues rather than immediate rate adjustments. "Getting policy right involves assessing near-term developments at timely, regular and information-rich intervals," he said. "But it's equally important we reserve time and space as an intellectually diverse group for strategic deliberations, for thinking anew about big questions, looking out over longer time horizons."

Committee minutes indicate Warsh began raising this concept in July. He argued that longer gaps between rate decisions would enable the committee to collect more economic data. Critics of the idea have long warned it could reduce the Fed's ability to respond quickly to sudden economic shifts.

The change distinguishes the Fed from other major central banks, including the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan, which maintain their current schedules. Warsh made the announcement immediately after the Fed released its latest policy decision, which left interest rates unchanged.

This calendar adjustment is the latest policy shift under Warsh, who assumed leadership in May following a nomination by President Donald Trump. He has already shortened the FOMC's post-meeting statements and declined to provide forward guidance on future inflation and unemployment.