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.

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 since the beginning of 1996 are in the calendars below.

Minutes
Links to minutes of FOMC meetings are in the calendars below. The minutes of each meeting are made available on the Thursday after the next regularly scheduled meeting. For example, the minutes of the first meeting of the year are released on the Thursday after the second meeting of the year.

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 Report
The FOMC makes an annual report pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act.

Note: A two-day meeting is scheduled for January 31-February 1, 2006 (Tuesday-Wednesday).

2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997 | 1996

Members
Alan Greenspan, Board of Governors, Chairman
Timothy F. Geithner, New York, Vice Chairman
Ben S. Bernanke, Board of Governors
Susan Schmidt Bies, Board of Governors
Roger W. Ferguson, Jr., Board of Governors
Edward M. Gramlich, Board of Governors
Thomas M. Hoenig, Kansas City
Donald L. Kohn, Board of Governors
Cathy E. Minehan, Boston
Mark W. Olson, Board of Governors
Sandra Pianalto, Cleveland
William Poole, St. Louis