Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said the Federal Open Market Committee should remove its pledge to be "patient" in raising interest rates in March to give it flexibility to raise rates as soon as June.
"We should take out 'patient' in March to provide optionality for the committee going forward," Bullard, a non- voting member of the FOMC this year, said in an interview with CNBC.
"If we take it out, then we can move at any of the meetings during the summer. But we don't have to. We can make it be data dependent, which is what I'd like," he said.
Bullard praised Fed Chair Janet Yellen's congressional testimony this week, where she suggested the central bank might drop its pledge to be "patient." A modification in guidance wouldn't indicate an immediate rate increase and would instead signal liftoff "could be warranted at any meeting," she said.
The St. Louis Fed president also dismissed criticism that Yellen had been politically partisan in making a speech about income inequality and holding regular meetings with U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew.
"I'm sure when Janet came into office they said, 'you have to meet with the Treasury secretary,'" he said.
