Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari said he argued the Fed should cut its benchmark rate by a half-percentage point at the U.S. central bank’s policy meeting this week.

“I advocated for a 50-basis-point rate cut to 1.75% to 2% and a commitment not to raise rates again until core inflation reaches our 2% target on a sustained basis,' Kashkari wrote Friday in an essay posted on the Minneapolis Fed’s website. “I believe an aggressive policy action such as this is required to re-anchor inflation expectations at our target.”

Kashkari and other participants on the Fed’s rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee concluded a two-day meeting Wednesday by leaving their benchmark rate target unchanged, while opening the door to a rate cut in coming months if the outlook deteriorates. Fed Vice Chairman Richard Clarida said Friday in an interview on Bloomberg Television that “the case for providing accommodation has increased.”

The Minneapolis Fed chief argued in his essay that 'with inflation expectations falling further in recent months, I believe the committee should now take action to re-anchor expectations at 2%,' referring to the Fed’s target for the inflation rate.

Kashkari doesn’t have a vote on the FOMC this year. Wednesday’s decision among the committee’s 10 voters for 2019 was 9-1 to leave rates unchanged -- in a 2.25% to 2.5% range. It was not unanimous, with St. Louis Fed President James Bullard seeking a quarter-point rate cut. Bullard’s vote marked the first dissent of Powell’s 16-month tenure as chairman.

In a blog posting on Friday explaining his dissent, Bullard said he favored a rate cut to guard against downside risks of too-low inflation and weaker growth.

“Even if a sharper-than-expected slowdown does not materialize, a rate cut would help promote a more rapid return of inflation and inflation expectations to target,’’ he said.

Kashkari made a similar argument. He noted that a measure of household inflation expectations compiled by the University of Michigan slipped to a record low this month, according to preliminary survey results. An alternative measure produced by the New York Fed dropped in May to the lowest level in two years.

Fed officials care about inflation expectations because they believe such views about the future go a long way toward determining actual inflation.

'Given that it has taken years for the markets to learn our current reaction function, I don’t believe a rate cut or two in isolation will do much to boost inflation expectations,” Kashkari wrote. “That is why I argued we should also commit to not raising rates from the new lower level until we see core inflation sustainably reach our target.'