Michelle Bowman said such a big initial rate cut could complicate the Fed's mission of getting inflation back to its 2% target.

Federal Reserve officials, in their first public comments since the U.S. central bank cut interest rates by half a percentage point, laid out on Friday the depth of the debate over the move, with one governor saying inflation was now so weak the large reduction was needed and another arguing price pressures remain so strong a smaller cut would have been better.