Federal Reserve President Stephen Milan speaks with CNBC at the Invest i America Forum on October 15, 2025.
CNBC
The Fed’s decision to cut the federal funds rate by a quarter of a point on Wednesday had three opponents, making it the central bank’s most divisive decision in more than six years.
Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsby also voted against the cut, as did Kansas City Fed President Jeffrey Schmidt. New member of the Federal Reserve Board, Stephen Milan, called for another half-point rate cut. This is the third consecutive dissenting opinion for Milan, who called for a half-point rate cut at both October and September meetings. Mr. Schmidt also requested that there be no reduction in October.
The last time there were three dissenting opinions at a Fed meeting was in September 2019.
In addition, there were four other so-called soft objections by conference participants who did not have the right to vote. Policymakers said they expected interest rates to end the year at traditional levels of 3.75-4%.
Kay Haig, global co-head of fixed income and liquidity solutions at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, said: “The ‘soft opposition’ seen in the dotplot, as well as the ‘hard opposition’ from voting members, highlights the Fed’s hawkish camp, and the return of ‘scope and timing’ language to statements about future policy decisions was likely done to appease them.”
He added: “This leaves the door open for future cuts, but the weaker labor market will require a higher hurdle to be cleared.”
However, Christopher Rapkey, chief economist at FWDBONDS, said opposition to a rate cut does not necessarily provide a clue as to what will happen next year.
“Despite today’s ruling by our opponents against accelerating the pace of rate cuts, the winds of change are blowing,” he said. “A new Fed chair in 2026, and perhaps even more new Fed officials, means more rate cuts next year. Even if not explicitly listed, rate cuts are a big part of the Trump 2.0 economic agenda, if only to weigh on the slowdown due to import tariff uncertainty.”
—CNBC’s Jeff Cox contributed reporting.
Correction: The last time there were three objections at a Fed meeting was in September 2019. Previous versions listed the month and year incorrectly.
