“I think we’re in the position that we could do this and as early as July,” Waller said. “That would be my view, whether the committee would go along with it or not.”
His remarks followed Wednesday’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, which ended with the Fed leaving interest rates unchanged for the fourth consecutive time since the last adjustment in December.
Although nominated by former President Donald Trump, who has frequently pressed the Fed to slash rates in light of the ballooning national debt, Waller stressed his stance was based on labor market concerns.
“If you’re starting to worry about the downside risk [to the] labor market, move now, don’t wait,” he said. “Why do we want to wait until we actually see a crash before we start cutting rates? So, I’m all in favor of saying maybe we should start thinking about cutting the policy rate at the next meeting, because we don’t want to wait till the job market tanks before we start cutting the policy rate.”
Still uncertain what Fed will do
Despite his public comments, Waller joined in the unanimous vote this week to keep the federal funds rate within its current target range of 4.25% to 4.5%.