Factbox: Fed officials' comments on the economy, policy

(Reuters) - Federal Reserve officials discussed the possibility of launching a fresh round of bond buying before deciding last month on a smaller step to aid the economy.

A majority of Fed policymakers backed the $400 billion stimulus program, known as "Operation Twist," under which the Fed sells short-term securities and buys longer-term bonds to drive down long-term interest rates.

Three Fed officials dissented, saying more easing is not warranted. Their objections underscore the hurdles Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke faces in winning support for any additional steps to stimulate the economy.

The following are recent comments from Fed policymakers: (* denotes 2011 voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee, which sets U.S. monetary policy):

* FED CHAIRMAN BEN BERNANKE, October 18

"The (Fed) continues to explore ways to further increase transparency about its forecasts and plans."

* CHICAGO FED PRESIDENT CHARLES EVANS, October 17

"Given how badly we are doing on our employment mandate, we need to be willing to take a risk on inflation going modestly higher in the short run if that is a consequence of policies aimed at lowering unemployment."

RICHMOND FED PRESIDENT JEFFREY LACKER, October 17

"My sense is that we should not be adding monetary stimulus at this point...A case could be made that withdrawing stimulus may be warranted soon."

* MINNEAPOLIS FED PRESIDENT NARAYANA KOCHERLAKOTA, October 13

"The Committee's actions at the last two meetings are inconsistent with a systematic pursuit of its communicated objectives."

MINUTES FROM SEPT 21-21 FEDERAL OPEN MARKET COMMITTEE MEETING released Oct 12

"Most members agreed that the revisions to the economic outlook warranted some additional monetary policy accommodation to support a stronger recovery."

* PHILADELPHIA FED PRESIDENT CHARLES PLOSSER, October 12

"It (Operation Twist) doesn't have a whole lot of credibility attached to it."

CLEVELAND FED PRESIDENT SANDRA PIANALTO, October 12

"Of course monetary policy alone cannot solve all of the ills of our economy. Nevertheless I do believe that the Federal Reserve has to do what it can to promote a stronger economic recovery."

ATLANTA FED PRESIDENT DENNIS LOCKHART, October 7

"I do not think we can take any monetary policy option off the table but I continue to think that the conditions in which we would invoke another round of large-scale asset purchases should be pretty demanding conditions."

* DALLAS FED PRESIDENT RICHARD FISHER, October 7

"If I believed that further monetary accommodation or fiddling with the yield curve would ignite sustainable aggregate demand, I would support it. But the bar for such action remains very high for me."

* FISHER, October 6

"We have too many people out of work for too long. We have a very frustrated people, and I can understand their frustration."

* BERNANKE, October 4

"We think this (Operation Twist) is a meaningful but not an enormous support to the economy. I think it provides some additional monetary accommodation, it should help somewhat on job creation and growth. It's particularly important now the economy is close -- the recovery is close -- to faltering. We need to make sure that the recovery continues and doesn't drop back and the unemployment rate continues to fall downward."

* FISHER, October 3

"We want to rekindle this economy; we don't want, on the other hand, to kindle inflationary embers. I don't think the latter is an issue right now."

LACKER, October 3

"It (Operation Twist) is more likely to raise inflation than it is to measurably raise growth, that's my assessment. I would not have supported it."

ST. LOUIS FED PRESIDENT JAMES BULLARD, September 30

"Should economic performance deteriorate, monetary policy will respond ... The Fed is not now, or ever, 'out of ammunition'."

(Reporting by Kristina Cooke in New York, Pedro Nicolaci da Costa and Mark Felsenthal in Washington and Ann Saphir in Chicago; Editing by Kenneth Barry)