Federal Reserve policy makers, weighing options for an eventual exit from extraordinary easing, said continued stimulus to push unemployment lower doesn't risk sparking an undesirable jump in the inflation rate.

With inflation expected to remain well below its 2 percent goal, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) doesn't "face a tradeoff between its employment and inflation objectives, and an expansion of aggregate demand would result in further progress relative to both objectives," according to minutes of their April 29-30 meeting released today in Washington.

Fed officials also discussed the need to improve their guidance on the likely path of interest rates, and they heard a staff presentation on the tools that could eventually be used to control short-term borrowing costs once policy makers decide to lift them above zero.