On July 31, three Federal Reserve policymakers said that dissenting votes in favor of a rate hike this week stemmed from stubborn inflationary pressures, highlighting rising internal pressure on Fed Chair Warsh to act. In statements released Friday morning, Hammack and Kashkari said they worry that although the current round of price increases may stem from short-term factors such as President Trump's tariff policies and the Iran war, the inflation situation already warrants Fed action. Logan also joined in, saying that even if inflation cools, if the Fed does not raise rates, inflation is unlikely to fully fall back to the Fed's 2% target; without any policy constraints, inflation could continue to run above target until an unexpected shock occurs. Kashkari said that if inflation remains persistently stubborn, he might support a series of rate hikes, not just a single increase, to prevent inflation from becoming further entrenched. He said: "A series of small policy adjustments may be preferable to waiting for developments to unfold and ultimately having to take more forceful action." Hammack said that if the Fed does not tighten policy, price increases could continue to accelerate. She said: "Inflation has been stubbornly above 2% for more than five years, and I have no confidence that it will return to our target on its own." (Jin Shi)