The Federal Reserve's July 28-29 policy meeting minutes, released on Wednesday, indicated that several officials assessed that further policy tightening might be necessary if inflation did not decline. Some officials commented that current financial conditions might not be restrictive enough to bring inflation back down to the 2% target. Nevertheless, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) ultimately voted 9-3 to maintain the federal funds rate target range at 3.5%-3.75%. The three regional Fed presidents who dissented (Beth Hammack of the Cleveland Fed, Lorie Logan of the Dallas Fed, and Neel Kashkari of the Minneapolis Fed) believed that a 25 basis point rate hike could help avoid the need for steeper, more costly tightening measures later on. The minutes also mentioned discussions about reducing the frequency of FOMC meetings from eight times a year to six, but no decision was made.