Federal Reserve Governor Stephen Miran said better-than-expected inflation data and signs of continued weakness in the job market call for a third consecutive interest-rate cut in December.

In the absence of new economic information due to the government shutdown, a half-point cut next month is still “appropriate,” Miran said Monday during an interview with CNBC. “At a minimum,” he added, the central bank should lower rates by an additional quarter percentage point.

“We’ve got new inflation data which were better than expected, which would make one think that it would be reasonable to be incrementally more dovish” than in September, when officials’ rate projections pointed to three quarter-point cuts this year, Miran said.

“On top of that, labor-market data have come out with the labor market continuing in the trajectory it was on, which is one of gradual softening,” he said.

Fed officials lowered their benchmark rate by a quarter-point last month, but stopped short of signaling a reduction in December. Some policymakers have recently voiced concerns over price pressures. Consumer price inflation ticked up to 3% in the year through September.

Appointed to the Fed in September, Miran has consistently argued for rapid rate cuts to address weakness in the labor market. Miran dissented at each of the last two policy meetings in favor of larger, half-point reductions.

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