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The Federal Open Market Committee voted 11-1 to hold the benchmark federal funds rate in a range of 3.5% to 3.75%. Governor Stephen Miran dissented.

The spike in oil and gas prices presents already-divided Federal Reserve officials with a worst-case scenario as they conclude a key meeting March 18.

Austan Goolsbee, in prepared remarks for a speech Feb. 24, said he wants to see evidence that inflation is cooling to the Fed’s 2% target before supporting further interest-rate cuts.

National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said a study from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York showing U.S. companies bear most of the tariff burden “is an embarrassment.” 

The report suggests inflation could be cooling, but it comes after the cost of food, gas, and rents soared after the pandemic, with consumer prices about 25% higher than they were five years ago.

Warsh, who served on the U.S. central bank’s Board of Governors from 2006 to 2011 and has previously advised Trump on economic policy, would succeed Jerome Powell when his term ends in May.

The Federal Open Market Committee voted 10-2 Jan. 28 to hold the benchmark federal funds rate in a range of 3.5%-3.75%. The two dissenting were in favor of a quarter-point reduction.

Consumer prices rose 2.8% in November from a year earlier, the Commerce Department said Jan. 22, up from a 2.7% annual pace in October. Excluding food and energy, core prices also increased 2.8%.

President Trump said if Hassett were to leave the White House National Economic Council, it would deprive the administration of one of its most powerful messengers of the economy.

The Federal Reserve is expected to cut short-term rates in 2026, with its key interest rate settling at 3.4% toward the end of President Donald Trump's term in office in 2028, according to the CBO.