Just before Joe Biden leaves the White House and Donald Trump returns, two prominent Republican members of the Federal Reserve Board are weighing in on how fast interest rates should come down. The two — Michelle Bowman and Christopher Waller — say rates can come down in a measured way.

The U.S. job market again defied an anticipated slowdown, with firms adding more than a quarter of a million jobs in the last full month of Joe Biden's presidency and leaving Federal Reserve policymakers to puzzle over the need for more interest rate cuts in a strong economy.

But minutes from their December meeting suggest that the decision was a close call — and that there is no guarantee policymakers will lower rates again anytime soon. The minutes of the central bank’s Dec.