Federal Reserve Governors Could Break Ranks as Trump Intensifies Powell Pressure

The last time more than one governor dissented in a single meeting was over 30 years ago

- Nick Timiraos

This week's Fed meeting could produce something that hasn't happened since 1993: more than one governor voting against the Fed chair. The groundwork was laid weeks ago. Welcome to monetary policy in the age of the succession campaign.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell and his colleagues have signaled they favor maintaining a wait-and-see approach at this week's meeting. The potential dissenters—governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman—happen to be President Trump's two appointees. Both have voiced support for cutting rates, which Trump also has publicly demanded.

Their break with Powell coincides with Trump intensifying his pressure campaign against the Fed chair, from surprise visits to the Fed to public attacks on the chair's leadership, all while potential successors jockey for position ahead of Powell's term ending next May.

The last time more than one governor dissented in a single meeting was more than 30 years ago, a streak that includes 259 policy meetings.

The Fed's 12-person rate-setting committee includes all seven presidentially appointed governors on the Washington-based board. The other members are the regional-bank presidents, five of whom take turns voting every year and are appointed by their bank boards.