Investors are betting there is about a one in four chance the central bank will raise interest rates at their next policy meeting at the end of July. What’s harder to put odds on is whether Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh will hold a press conference to explain why they raised or not.
When asked about future press conferences at his first meeting with reporters in June, Warsh said they are useful when you have something to say. “I think we’re going to come up with some new and interesting things,’’ he said. “Some of those might well be worthy of a press conference.’’
This phrasing appears to reserve press conferences for big announcements, a change from the past few Fed chairs who spoke to reporters four and then eight times a year after monetary policy decisions. There are several reasons why reducing the frequency of press conferences would be a step backwards.
Public Accountability
First, the Fed policy committee dropped this new phrase into its June statement: “The committee will deliver price stability.’’ That pledge was unusual because it suddenly elevated inflation risks above the Fed’s other mandate of maximum employment after five years of price gains running faster than the 2% target. What’s not well understood is how the Fed will achieve that goal. Until now, a wait and see posture in response to inflationary shocks such as tariffs and a sharp rise in energy costs hasn’t worked. Inflation expectations for both one- and three-year horizons were up in a recent New York Fed survey.
Credibility erodes when central banks announce goals without a strategy to achieve them. Right now, any decision on interest rates, including no change, is worthy of a press conference.
The press conference also serves a larger purpose than the day’s decision. It is one of the few public accountability mechanisms that the Fed participates in where the focus is mostly on monetary policy. Through the press conference the Fed speaks to the broader public, and its fellow central bankers around the world about the rate of interest on the world’s reserve currency. What could be more important?
Of all forms of Fed communication, the press conference was ranked as useful or extremely useful by 80% of private sector respondents and 88% of academic or think tank respondents — more valuable than testimony, the policy statement , or most other forms of communication, according to a 2026 Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy survey.
Historically it has been up to Congress to oversee monetary policy through a semi-annual hearing mandated by law. The Federal Reserve Act says the hearings will focus on the “conduct of monetary policy; and economic developments and prospects for the future.’’ A written monetary report is required for each hearing, which typically occurs in February and July. Warsh is preparing to speak to the House Financial Services Committee on July 14, and the Senate Banking Committee the following day. The Fed released the latest Monetary Policy Report Friday.
The hearings should be a strong monetary policy accountability tool, but they have devolved into a question-and-answer session guided by lawmakers’ particular interests or the influence of interest groups. At Powell’s House testimony in June 2025, there were questions on monetary policy, but also some on housing, digital assets and cybersecurity. Those topics are fair game for a Fed chair, but they highlight the post-meeting press conference’s singular focus on monetary policy.
Task Force
Powell stepped up the frequency of press conferences to every meeting in January 2019, a change from his two predecessors who held them four times a year. Doubling the number of press conferences “will give us more opportunities to explain our actions and to answer your questions,’’ he said at the time.
That step put the Fed on a similar cadence with the European Central Bank, which also has a large, diverse constituency.
Warsh has launched five task forces in an attempt at revamping how the central bank approaches monetary policy decisions. One will focus on communications, and on July 9 the Fed said it will be lead by Mervyn King, Arminio Fraga, and Peter R. Fisher, all former central bankers. Ideally, the goal would be better, not less communication, and there is no shortage of suggestions, including a recent review of Fed practices by former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke.
Rolling back the frequency of Fed press conferences will reduce policy transparency. That will create more costs for borrowers in the form of volatility and risk premiums as investors guess at policy rationales and how the central bank will respond to recent data.
The Dodd-Frank Act also showed that eventually the public and their representatives will demand more transparency when things go wrong.
“Transparency and accountability are about more than just opening up the books,’’ Bernanke said when he was Fed chair. “They also require thoughtful explanations of what we are doing and why.’’
Transparency is even more crucial in an era of global regime change in technology, trade and global competition that touches all aspects of central bank remits – from financial stability to inflation, stable economic growth, and, in the Fed’s case, employment.
