Frequently Asked Questions
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) kip to content
What is the Federal Open Market Committee, and what does it do?
Who are the members of the FOMC?
When is the next FOMC meeting?
Does the FOMC make public its objectives for monetary policy?
Why are some FOMC meetings scheduled for two days?
Are minutes and transcripts of FOMC meetings available?
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What is the Federal Open Market Committee, and what does it do?
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is the monetary policymaking body of the Federal Reserve System. It is responsible for formulation of a monetary policy designed to promote economic growth, full employment, stable prices, and a sustainable pattern of international trade and payments.
The FOMC sets monetary policy by specifying the short-term objective for open market operations--purchases and sales of U.S. government and federal agency securities. Open market operations, the principal tool of monetary policy, affect the provision of reserves to depository institutions and, in turn, the cost and availability of money and credit in the U.S. economy. Currently, the objective is a target level for the federal funds rate (the rate that depository institutions charge on overnight sales of immediately available funds among themselves).
The FOMC also directs Federal Reserve operations in foreign currencies; such operations are coordinated with the U.S. Treasury, which has responsibility for formulating U.S. policies regarding the exchange value of the dollar.
For more information on the FOMC, see Monetary Policy: Federal Open Market Committee and The Structure of the Federal Reserve System.
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Who are the members of the FOMC?
The Federal Open Market Committee consists of twelve voting members: the seven members of the Board of Governors and five of the twelve Federal Reserve Bank presidents. The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York serves on a continuous basis; the presidents of the other Reserve Banks serve one-year terms on a rotating basis beginning on January 1 of each year. 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.
All of the Reserve Bank presidents, even those who are not currently voting members, attend FOMC meetings, participate in the discussions, and contribute to the assessment of the economy and of policy options.
Current members of the FOMC.
When is the next FOMC meeting?
Please see the current FOMC meetings calendar.
Does the FOMC make public its objectives for monetary policy?
Yes, a statement is released at about 2:15 p.m. on the final day of each FOMC meeting. The disclosure policy has evolved over the years as the FOMC has sought to provide more information on its views on economic activity and risks to the outlook.
- From 1994 through 1998, a written statement was released whenever the FOMC changed interest rates.
- In 1995, the statement began to include the objective for the federal funds rate.
- In late 1998, the FOMC began releasing a statement immediately after certain meetings when the stance of monetary policy remained unchanged but the Committee nonetheless wanted to communicate to the public a major shift in its views about the balance of risks or the likely direction of future policy.
- Since February 2000, the FOMC has issued a statement after each meeting. That statement has usually included language that describes the Committee's judgment about the risks to the attainment of its long-run goals of price stability and sustainable economic growth.
- Since March 2002, the statement has included each member's vote on monetary policy decisions.
FOMC statements and minutes
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Why are some FOMC meetings scheduled for two days?
The FOMC meets eight times a year, usually for one day. The meetings in January-February and June-July are two-day meetings. At the two-day meetings, the FOMC members and the nonvoting Federal Reserve Bank presidents provide individual, longer-run projections of the real and nominal growth of the gross domestic product, the rate of unemployment, and the rate of inflation for the current year and the year ahead. The central tendencies of the projections are included in the Monetary Policy Report delivered to Congress each February and July. At the two-day meetings, the FOMC also considers longer-run strategies for monetary policy and, at the first meeting of the year, deals with administrative matters.
Yes, minutes of regularly scheduled meetings are released to the public three weeks after the date of the policy decision. Transcripts of meetings for an entire year are released to the public with a five-year lag.
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