Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and today is Thursday, September 18th, 2025.

This is USA Today is the excerpt. Today, what the Fed's rate cut means plus turmoil on RFK Junior's turf

prompts some rare GOP pushback.

And Jimmy Kimmel has been pulled off the air indefinitely over his comments about the shooting of Charlie Kirk.

After nine months of staying on the sidelines, the Federal Reserve has announced a rate cut.

As spoke with USA Today, personal finance reporter Rachel Barber, to put the move in context.

Thanks for hopping on, Rachel.

Thanks for having me, Taylor. So just with the basics here at the top, Rachel, I mean, what did the Fed actually

announced? So the Fed announced a quarter percentage point rate cut. So that brings the federal

funds target rate down to 4 to 4.25%. And economists and experts generally agree that this is likely the first in a series of cuts

that would usher in lower borrowing costs for all consumers.

Okay. And I mean, what led up to this point? I know they had elected to hold the rate steady so

far this year in 2025. That's right. For nine months, the Fed held its key interest rate steady in a year marked by tariffs and economic uncertainty. The Federal Open Market Committee was previously taking a wait and see approach before they were taking action. But obviously things changed this month.

Well, as you say, they had this wait and see approach. I mean, why now? What are some of the factors that went into this rate-cutting decision? Based on Federal Reserve Chair, Jerome Powell's

comments at the press conference after the announcement, this is pretty clearly a response to trouble

in the labor market. The Fed is always balancing its dual mandate of keeping unemployment low

and inflation under control. And so typically the Fed

will hike rates or keep them steady if they want to tame inflation and the lower rates if they

want to try and juice the economy. And while the Fed previously held back on rate cuts due to concerns

over inflation, a recent series of rather disappointing jobs reports showed a weakening labor market, and that prompted the committee to act, it seems.

Well, Chair Jerome Powell said the Fed continues to work independently.

Can you just talk through some of his comments on that point and what he's alluding to as it pertains maybe to some of these tensions with the Trump administration?

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