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Summary

On Wednesday, October 28, 2026, the Federal Reserve kept its benchmark interest rate, the federal funds rate, in a range of 3.75% to 4%. The vote was 10 to 2. Fed Governor Lisa Cook and Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack voted against the decision because they wanted to raise the rate by a quarter of a percentage point. The Fed said inflation "remains elevated" and the economy is "expanding at a strong pace." The decision came six days before the November 3 midterm elections, and Chair Kevin Warsh said politics "played no role." Warsh also announced that from next fall the Fed will hold fewer meetings that set rates.

What happened

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the Fed's 12-member rate-setting committee (CNN), released its statement at 2 p.m. Eastern time. It says the committee "decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 3-3/4 to 4 percent," that "Economic activity is expanding at a strong pace," that "Inflation remains elevated," and that "The accumulation of more information will help the Committee determine the policy stance appropriate to ensure a timely return of inflation to the Committee's 2 percent goal." It names the two officials who voted against: Cook and Hammack, "who preferred to raise the target range for the federal funds rate by 1/4 percentage point at this meeting" (FOMC statement). In September's statement the Fed had described growth as "solid" (September statement).

It was Cook's first dissent on a rate decision since she joined the Fed's board in 2022 (CNBC). Hammack also dissented in July, when she wanted a raise (CNN).

At his press conference, Warsh announced a change to the Fed's calendar "starting next fall." The Fed will still meet eight times a year, but in 2027 "one meeting will focus exclusively on broad monetary policy strategy, with neither a vote on the federal funds rate nor a policy statement anticipated," and he expects two such meetings in 2028, leaving six that set rates (opening statement). He said the change reserves "time and space, as an intellectually diverse group, for strategic deliberations" and called the schedule "more than some administrative detail." The Fed can still call an emergency meeting when needed (CNN).

What the federal funds rate is

The federal funds rate is the interest rate banks charge each other to borrow money overnight. The Fed doesn't set it to one number. It sets a target range, now 3.75% to 4%, and steers the rate into it (BBC News). The Fed's goal is inflation, the rate at which prices rise, of 2% a year, alongside a stable job market. When inflation is too high, the Fed tends to raise rates. Banks and other lenders then charge more for loans and pay more on savings, so people and businesses borrow and spend less, and price rises slow down (BBC News).

What holding the rate means for a household: rates on things like new mortgages and business loans are less likely to change, and rates on cash savings are unlikely to rise (BBC News). Anyone carrying a credit card balance still pays a high rate either way: Bankrate puts the average card rate at about 20% (CNN). Mortgage rates are not tied directly to the Fed's decisions. They tend to track the yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury bonds, which reflects what investors expect from inflation and from the Fed, so they can move even when the Fed holds (CNN).

How we got here

• December 2025: The Fed last cut rates. Cook voted with the majority (CNBC).
• January to July 2026: The Fed held rates steady at five meetings in a row (CNN). April was Jerome Powell's last meeting as chair. His term ended in May, and Warsh, whom President Donald Trump picked, was sworn in on May 22 (CNN).
• June 2026: The Supreme Court blocked Trump's first attempt to fire Cook, ruling that she had not been given the due process the law requires. The ruling left room for a new attempt. The administration's officials allege Cook made false statements on at least one mortgage-related document, and she denies wrongdoing (CNBC).
• June 17, 2026: At Warsh's first meeting, the Fed held the range at 3.5% to 3.75%, 12 to 0 (statement).
• July 29, 2026: The Fed held again, 9 to 3. Hammack, Neel Kashkari and Lorie Logan preferred a quarter-point raise (statement).
• September 16, 2026: The Fed voted 12 to 0 to raise the range by a quarter point, to 3.75% to 4% (statement). It was the first raise since 2023 (CNN).
• October 7–13, 2026: Trump set up a three-member "committee of inquiry" into the allegations against Cook, with a White House hearing scheduled for November 5 (CNBC). A White House spokesman, Matthew Middleton, said Trump "is performing his constitutional duty." Cook's lawyer, Abbe Lowell, wrote that she cannot attend on November 5 because of Fed meetings in Europe and that the earliest date would be in December (CNBC).
• October 2026: The September Consumer Price Index showed prices up 3.7% over the past year, compared with 3.4% in August. CNN reports that about half of September's monthly rise came from gasoline, whose price has climbed since the war with Iran began (CNN).
• October 27–28, 2026: The committee met for two days and held rates, 10 to 2 (FOMC statement).

What people involved say

The majority, through Chair Warsh. Warsh said "real activity is clearly pointing in the right direction" but "inflation is too high," and that since September's raise, credit conditions "have tightened for some businesses and households, much as we would expect" (opening statement). He described the room this way: "the overwhelming consensus, the overwhelming judgment, is that what we've done in this monetary medicine starting to work some, but there's no firm conclusions." He said the committee chose to "take stock of where we are" and ask whether the coming weeks would bring "more clarity" (Yahoo Finance). He also said, "We will deliver price stability, no ifs, ands or buts" (CNN).

Warsh on politics. Asked about the elections, Warsh said: "Politics played no role in the decision. I just spent two days with my colleagues upstairs. I didn't hear an utterance about politics" (Yahoo Finance). He said he didn't believe politics "had any role in the decision, not just for me, but for my colleagues around the room," and that the weeks ahead are "an information-rich interval in the coming period, having nothing to do with politics" (CNN). Asked about Trump's criticism, he said: "I appreciate the question, but I'm not going to be responding to quotes from public officials" (Yahoo Finance).

The two dissenters, Cook and Hammack. The statement says only that they preferred a quarter-point raise. CNBC reported that both were likely to release statements explaining their votes before the end of the week (CNBC). We had not found those statements as of October 28. Their earlier speeches set out their views. In August, Cook said "Inflation is too high," that energy costs and spending on artificial intelligence had "shifted the balance of risks toward inflation," and that she was "prepared to act by raising rates, if necessary" (August 5 speech). On September 30 she said inflation "has been too high for too long" (speech). On October 12, Hammack said price pressures are "relatively broad-based," that "a restrictive policy stance will be needed," and that she prefers "smaller adjustments" made "relatively quickly, rather than to wait." She warned that "With each passing month, persistently elevated inflation raises the risks of an inflationary mindset becoming entrenched in the economy" (speech).

The administration. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC on Wednesday, after the decision, that Fed officials "should have an open mind in terms of the transitory nature of the supply shock." CNN reads this as Bessent saying the Fed should look past a rise in inflation that comes mainly from energy costs, which could prove temporary (CNN). Trump has repeatedly called for lower rates. Before the September meeting, he said he had told Warsh, "You might as well vote with the board because it's not going to matter," and he called the rate-setting committee "very hostile" and "very political" (CNN). On October 10, he called Cook an "automatic no vote" (CNBC).

What happens next

• November 3: The midterm elections (CNBC).
• November 5: The date the White House set for the hearing on Cook. Her lawyer says she cannot attend that day (CNBC).
• December 8–9: The Fed's next meeting (Fed calendar). Warsh did not say what he expects then: "A lot of things can happen, so I'm not going to be able to share with you my musings" (BBC News). Futures prices put the chance of a raise in December at about 85%, up from 78% a day earlier, according to CME FedWatch (CNN).
• From fall 2027: The first meeting with no rate vote. The Fed's 2027 calendar still lists eight meetings, and Warsh did not say which one will be the strategy meeting (Fed calendar; opening statement).

How it was covered

14 of the 15 outlets on our panel covered it: 5 of 5 on the left, 4 of 5 in the center and 5 of 5 on the right (checked October 28, 2026). The Reel showed one headline per side: CNN, "Fed keeps interest rates unchanged, but two officials dissented in favor of a rate hike"; Reuters, "Fed leaves rates unchanged as it awaits 'accumulation of more information'"; and The Washington Times, "Fed holds interest rates steady before Election Day, though December hike possible." We did not find coverage from Newsweek. Every outlet's headline, link and date is on the [story page](/stories/2026-10-28-fed-holds-rates/#coverage). [How we rate outlets and count coverage](/method/).

Sources

The [story page](/stories/2026-10-28-fed-holds-rates/#sources) lists the main sources; every other source is linked in the text above.

Corrections

None as of October 28, 2026. See the [corrections log](/stories/2026-10-28-fed-holds-rates/#corrections).