It’s hard to overstate the magnitude of what happened recently at the Federal Reserve: For the fifth time in 2025, the Fed refused to cut rates, keeping them in the 4.25% - 4.5% range, despite cooling inflation and slowing job growth.
What makes this case especially striking and infuriating is that two Federal Reserve governors dissented, calling for a quarter-point rate cut. That’s the first time in more than 30 years such a vote occurred. Michelle Bowman and Christopher Waller publicly broke with Chairman Jerome Powell, warning of a weakening labor market and arguing that the Fed’s “wait-and-see” stance risks pushing the economy into contraction.
In recent months, the American public has been subjected to a dangerous charade exposing the increasingly politicized nature of our so-called independent central bank. While inflation fell to the Federal Reserve’s stated 2% target in May, Powell continues dragging his feet on cutting interest rates. European central banks have begun easing, responding to changing economic realities. Not Powell. He keeps rates artificially high, undermining the Fed’s credibility, violating its dual mandate, and raising serious concerns about whether he is acting in the interest of the American people or a political party.
We’ve seen this playbook before: Cut rates when it benefits Democrats before an election. Stall when a Republican candidate surges in the polls. That’s not monetary policy; it’s political manipulation.
This violates the Federal Reserve’s dual mandate, which Congress established to ensure the Fed focuses on price stability and maximum employment. The Fed is failing on both counts by keeping interest rates artificially high in a cooling economy with inflation under control. Worse, it is exacerbating economic pain for working families, small business owners, and first-time homebuyers while shielding itself from accountability behind an outdated and opaque law passed over a century ago.
A Structural Problem, Not Just a Personnel One
Calls for Powell’s removal are not only justified; they are long overdue. Under the Federal Reserve Act, a chairman may be removed “for cause” – a deliberately broad standard meant to ensure accountability. Powell’s continued refusal to fulfill the Federal Reserve’s dual mandate is a clear dereliction of duty. This willful inaction constitutes a violation of the law and the trust placed in his office. Since Powell refuses to follow the law, President Trump should act immediately, invoking the statutory clause to remove him for cause. The time to clean house at the Fed is now. I agree wholeheartedly with Sen. Tuberville: “Today’s a great day to fire Jerome Powell.”
However, Powell is not the root of the problem. He’s merely the face of a deeper institutional rot. The actual issue lies in Congress’s abdication of responsibility.
Congress created the Federal Reserve in 1913, giving unelected technocrats enormous power over our money, interest rates, and our entire economy. For over a century, the Fed has operated as a de facto “fourth branch of government,” unaccountable to voters, immune from market discipline, and increasingly unmoored from the constitutional limits placed on federal power. Congress can change this, and it must.
A Constitutional Contradiction
The U.S. Constitution gives Congress the authority “to coin money [and] regulate the value thereof.” Nowhere does it authorize Congress to abdicate that responsibility to a central bank run by unelected bureaucrats.
The Federal Reserve’s power has grown far beyond its original mandate. Today, it manipulates markets, props up failing banks, and finances unsustainable government deficits without direct accountability to the American people. With inflation easing, the Fed is clinging to high rates in what looks more like political calculus than economic logic. We are witnessing firsthand how central banking has been weaponized for partisan ends.
International Peers Are Acting, So Why Not Powell?
In early June, the European Central Bank reduced its interest rate to 2%, citing declining inflation and stagnant growth across the Eurozone. They see the writing on the wall: elevated interest rates in a low-inflation environment risk sending economies into contraction.
Meanwhile, Powell remains frozen, refusing to act. The excuse? “Lingering risks of inflation.” The data says otherwise. The Core PCE Price Index, the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation, continues to hold in the twos. Unemployment is inching up. Consumer credit is tightening. Mortgage demand is near record lows.
Powell is not responding to economic data; rather, he is punishing the American people because of his disdain for Trump. The Fed's actions under Powell are further inflating the national debt due to its highly artificial interest rates. This blatant politicization violates the central bank’s very purpose. It should be grounds for Powell’s immediate removal and a wake-up call for structural reform.
Congress Must Take Back Control
Congress has the authority to abolish the Federal Reserve. It could start with lesser reforms, subject the Fed to full audits, end its dual mandate in favor of a strict price-stability focus, or require congressional approval for major policy shifts. But ultimately, the only way to rein in this unelected power center is to eliminate it.
While Congress recently held hearings in which Powell answered questions, the hearings' overall tenure lacked the teeth necessary to exercise true oversight. Congress should issue subpoenas, demand internal communications, and prepare legislation that either fundamentally reforms the Fed or phases it out entirely.
The American founders never envisioned a central bank wielding this much influence over daily life, and neither should we. Powell is no longer acting as an independent steward of monetary policy. He is engaging in political gamesmanship, ignoring the Fed’s dual mandate, and prolonging economic hardship for everyday Americans. This constitutes cause for his removal.
America deserves sound money, honest markets, and accountable government. The Federal Reserve delivers none of these. If Congress won’t abolish the Fed outright, we must replace every other governor with individuals committed to constitutional principles and true dual-mandate enforcement.
A Challenge to Alabama, a Call to the Nation
Alabamians, consider how high borrowing costs impact your life: delayed home purchases, stalled farm or factory expansions, and jobs rejected because capital is too expensive. The Fed’s refusal to cut rates inflames these problems while inflation cools and labor softens. That’s not “independent decision-making,” that’s economic sabotage.
For national readers: If a central bank can ignore data, cower before political calculation, and keep economic pain high to curry favor or avoid backlash, what safeguard remains?
Bowman and Waller’s dissent signals there are alternatives within the Fed, but only if we demand change. One of them should be the Fed Chair. If not, we must start over.
The answer is not modest reform; it is radical accountability.
Tuberville is right: Powell must go. And if we remain stuck with the Fed, then Bowman, Waller, or someone who follows congressional guidelines must rise to the job, or we face another decade of ruinous rate policy. Alabama deserves better. America cannot wait.
Gerrick Wilkins is an automotive consultant, a former congressional candidate, and the author of “Unshackling Democracy: Embracing Term Limits, Empowering Citizens.”
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to [email protected].
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