Kevin Warsh: The Fed will have one meeting in 2027 that will not vote on rates
Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh said at the post-FOMC press conference on October 28, 2026, that the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will continue to hold eight meetings a year, but starting in the fall of 2027, one of those meetings will be devoted specifically to broad monetary policy strategy, with no vote on the federal funds rate and no policy statement issued.
Warsh said that eight meetings a year is the right number for the FOMC, but that in 2027 one meeting will be devoted specifically to broad monetary policy strategy, and there is no expectation of a vote on the federal funds rate or of a policy statement. The other seven meetings will continue as regular policy-setting meetings. He further expected that in 2028 there would be two meetings devoted to strategy discussions and six for policy setting. Warsh noted that properly making policy requires assessing recent developments at timely, regular, and informative intervals, but it is equally important to preserve time and space for the Committee, as a group with diverse knowledge, to deliberate strategically, think about big issues, and focus on a longer time horizon.
At the meeting that day, the Fed kept interest rates in the 3.75% to 4% range. Warsh said that which specific meeting would be changed into a strategy meeting, and whether any form of communication would be issued after the meeting, were still to be determined and would be shared later.
Original sources:
Title: Fed Will Vote Just Seven Times on Rates Next Year Publisher: The Wall Street Journal (Matt Grossman) Publication date: 2026-10-28 URL: https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/fed-meeting-interest-rate-decision-10-28-2026/card/fed-will-vote-just-seven-times-on-rates-next-year-njiSr0BunGmIjx1KisjN Nature of source: media report Verification status: relevant passages read in this issue, accessed on 2026-10-29 Supporting content: Warsh announced seven rate votes in 2027, six in 2028, and the strategy-meeting arrangement
Title: Fed's Warsh announces changes in how future FOMC meetings will go Publisher: Reuters Publication date: 2026-10-28 URL: https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/feds-warsh-announces-changes-how-future-fomc-meetings-will-go-2026-10-28/ Nature of source: media report Verification status: full key portions read in this issue, accessed on 2026-10-29 Supporting content: Warsh's indirect remarks, one strategy meeting in 2027 and two in 2028, no rate vote and no policy statement
Title: Warsh: The Fed will have 8 meetings as scheduled in 2027... Publisher: Nick Timiraos (The Wall Street Journal) Publication date: 2026-10-28 URL: https://x.com/NickTimiraos/status/2115513210736680969 Nature of source: original post by the person involved Verification status: the post was read in this issue, accessed on 2026-10-29 Supporting content: confirms that the number of meetings remains eight, with one (in 2027) and two (in 2028) not involving monetary policy-setting votes
ABAB AI Insight
Kevin Warsh was appointed a Federal Reserve governor by George W. Bush in 2006, at age 35, making him the youngest governor in history. During the 2008 financial crisis, he served as a key liaison for Ben Bernanke and took part in operations such as the Bear Stearns sale and the AIG rescue, and he resigned in 2011 in opposition to a large-scale bond-buying program. He later taught at Stanford University and served at the Hoover Institution. In 2026, Trump nominated him to succeed Jerome Powell as chair, and the Senate confirmed him by the narrowest margin in history; he was sworn in in May.
This adjustment changes the FOMC's rhythm of eight annual rate decisions that had been maintained since the early 1980s under Paul Volcker. The total number of meetings remains unchanged, but some sessions will be shifted from “real-time” policy votes to strategic deliberation, reducing the number of scheduled rate decisions. This is consistent with the approach Warsh has taken since taking office of gradually weakening forward guidance, shortening statements, and not submitting his own interest-rate forecasts, with the aim of reducing markets' reliance on the Fed's verbal signals.
The comparable reference is the shift in the early 1980s: previously, the FOMC met almost monthly, and under Volcker it was compressed to about eight meetings a year to reduce overreaction to short-term fluctuations. This time, the FOMC is further distinguishing between “decision meetings” and “strategy meetings” within the eight-meeting framework, rather than reducing the total number of meetings overall. The key difference is that inflation has remained above the 2% target, and Warsh has explicitly opposed routine forward guidance, further increasing the signaling weight of the remaining decision meetings.
This arrangement specifically changes market expectations for the Fed's decision frequency: only seven scheduled rate votes in 2027 and only six in 2028 increase the information density and potential volatility of each meeting, while preserving the ability to hold unscheduled meetings in an emergency. The watch item is which specific meeting in 2027 is designated as the strategy meeting, and whether any form of communication text appears after it.
ABAB News · Laws of cognition
When the total number of meetings remains unchanged, reducing the number of rate votes increases the market weight of each individual decision.
Separating strategy meetings from policy meetings keeps short-term data assessment and long-term framework discussion separate on the calendar.
After weakening forward guidance, the remaining scheduled rate meetings become the market's main pricing nodes.