According to CNN’s Bryan Mena, Wash cannot single-handedly deliver
Trump-requested rate cuts but has signaled the Fed will not remain
business-as-usual. He has hired two conservative policy veterans as interim
advisers — Paul Winfree and Daniel Hale — and said the Fed has a “large number
of redundant” Washington staff, implying a potential overhaul of roughly 3,000
employees. Powell began staff reductions last year to align with broader federal
cuts. Wash has urged officials to focus more on trimmed-mean inflation measures
that capture underlying inflation rather than one-off price moves. With advisers
in place, institutional reform discussions are underway; Wash’s upcoming first
press conference is likely to be the first clear signal of how far he will seek
to reshape the Fed.
