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Federal Open Market Committee
The term "monetary policy" refers to the actions undertaken by a central bank, such as the Federal Reserve, to influence the availability and cost of money and credit to help promote national economic goals. The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 gave the Federal Reserve responsibility for setting monetary policy.
The Federal Reserve controls the three tools of monetary policy--open market operations, the discount rate, and reserve requirements. The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is responsible for the discount rate and reserve requirements, and the Federal Open Market Committee is responsible for open market operations. Using the three tools, the Federal Reserve influences the demand for, and supply of, balances that depository institutions hold at Federal Reserve Banks and in this way alters the federal funds rate. The federal funds rate is the interest rate at which depository institutions lend balances at the Federal Reserve to other depository institutions overnight.
Changes in the federal funds rate trigger a chain of events that affect other short-term interest rates, foreign exchange rates, long-term interest rates, the amount of money and credit, and, ultimately, a range of economic variables, including employment, output, and prices of goods and services.
Structure of the FOMC
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) consists of twelve members--the seven members of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; and four of the remaining eleven Reserve Bank presidents, who serve one-year terms on a rotating basis. The rotating seats are filled from the following four groups of Banks, one Bank president from each group: Boston, Philadelphia, and Richmond; Cleveland and Chicago; Atlanta, St. Louis, and Dallas; and Minneapolis, Kansas City, and San Francisco. Nonvoting Reserve Bank presidents attend the meetings of the Committee, participate in the discussions, and contribute to the Committee's assessment of the economy and policy options.
The FOMC holds eight regularly scheduled meetings per year. At these meetings, the Committee reviews economic and financial conditions, determines the appropriate stance of monetary policy, and assesses the risks to its long-run goals of price stability and sustainable economic growth.
For more detail on the FOMC and monetary policy, see section 2 of the brochure on the structure of the Federal Reserve System and chapter 2 of Purposes & Functions of the Federal Reserve System.
Meetings and Proceedings of the FOMC
Press Releases
The FOMC holds eight regularly scheduled meetings during the year, and other meetings as needed. Links to press releases issued after FOMC meetings are in the calendars below.
Minutes
The Committee unanimously decided to expedite the release of its minutes. The minutes of regularly scheduled meetings will be released three weeks after the date of the policy decision. The first set of expedited minutes were released at 2 p.m. EST on January 4, 2005.
Transcripts
Procedures adopted by the FOMC provide for the public release of transcripts for an entire year of meetings with a five-year lag.
FOIA
The FOMC makes an annual report pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act. The FOMC FOIA Service Center provides information about the status of FOIA requests and the FOIA process.
2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997 | 1996 | 1995
| 1994 | 1993 | 1992 - 1978
| 2007 FOMC Meetings | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30/31 | Statement | Minutes (Released Feb 21, 2007) |
| March | 20/21 | Statement | Minutes (Released Apr 11, 2007) |
| May | 9 | Statement | Minutes (Released May 30, 2007) |
| June | 27/28 | Statement | Minutes (Released Jul 19, 2007) |
| August | 7 | Statement | Minutes (Released Aug 28, 2007) |
| August | 10 (Unscheduled) | Statement | Minutes (Released Oct 9, 2007) |
| August | 16 (Unscheduled) | Statement | Minutes (Released Oct 9, 2007) |
| September | 18 | Statement | Minutes (Released Oct 9, 2007) |
| October | 30/31 | Statement | Minutes: 320 KB PDF | HTML (Released Nov 20, 2007) |
| December | 6 (Unscheduled) | Minutes: See end of minutes of December 11 meeting | |
| December | 11 | Statement | Minutes: 121 KB PDF | HTML (Released Jan 2, 2008) |
| 2008 FOMC Meetings | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 9 (Unscheduled) | Minutes: See end of minutes of January 29/30 meeting | |
| January | 21 (Unscheduled) | Statement | Minutes: See end of minutes of January 29/30 meeting |
| January | 29/30 | Statement | Minutes: 357 KB PDF | HTML (Released Feb 20, 2008) |
| March | 10 (Unscheduled) | Statement | Minutes: See end of minutes of March 18 meeting |
| March | 18 | Statement | Minutes: 280 KB PDF | HTML (Released April 8, 2008) |
| April | 29/30 | Statement | |
| June | 24/25 | ||
| August | 5 | ||
| September | 16 | ||
| October | 28/29 | ||
| December | 16 | ||
Minutes are released at 2:00 p.m. (eastern time) unless otherwise noted.
Note: A two-day meeting is scheduled for January 27-28, 2009 (Tuesday-Wednesday). Each meeting date is tentative until confirmed at the meeting immediately preceding it.
2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997 | 1996 | 1995| 1994 | 1993 | 1992 - 1978
2008 Members of the FOMC
Members
Ben S. Bernanke, Board of Governors, Chairman
Timothy F. Geithner, New York, Vice Chairman
Richard W. Fisher, Dallas
Donald L. Kohn, Board of Governors
Randall S. Kroszner, Board of Governors
Frederic S. Mishkin, Board of Governors
Sandra Pianalto, Cleveland
Charles I. Plosser, Philadelphia
Gary H. Stern, Minneapolis
Kevin M. Warsh, Board of Governors
Alternate Members
Charles L. Evans, Chicago
Jeffrey M. Lacker, Richmond
Dennis P. Lockhart, Atlanta
Janet L. Yellen, San Francisco
Christine M. Cumming, First Vice President, New York
Federal Reserve Bank Rotation on the FOMC
Committee membership changes at the first regularly scheduled meeting of the year.
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Members | New York Cleveland Philadelphia Dallas Minneapolis |
New York Chicago Richmond Atlanta San Francisco |
New York Cleveland Boston St. Louis Kansas City |
| Alternate Members |
New York Chicago Richmond Atlanta San Francisco |
New York Cleveland Boston St. Louis Kansas City |
New York Chicago Philadelphia Dallas Minneapolis |
For the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the First Vice President is the alternate for the President. Return to table
