Federal Reserve mouthpiece Nick Timiraos said officials at last month's meeting were divided over the size of the rate cut, with an overwhelming majority in favour of a larger 50 basis point cut that was eventually approved, but others in favour of a smaller 25 basis point cut. Just-released meeting notes opened the debate over why officials chose to begin the first rate cut since 2020 with a bolder 50 basis point cut. The decision to cut rates to a range of 4.75 per cent to 5 per cent was supported by 11 of the 12 members of the Fed's rate-setting committee. One policymaker opposed the decision in favour of a smaller cut. The meeting notes that proponents of deeper cuts "generally agree that this realignment of the stance of monetary policy will begin to bring it into better alignment with recent inflation and labour market indicators". Some of these officials argued that a 25 basis point cut at the last meeting in late July was "justified", while recent data only confirmed the case for a rate cut.