Warren « very worried » that the Fed will cause a recession

In a speech on Friday, Powell said the measures could cause « some pain » for households and businesses.

« What he calls ‘some pain’ means putting people out of work, closing small businesses, because the cost of money is going up, because interest rates are going up, » Warren said in his response.

Powell’s plan does not address what Warren called the root causes of inflation, including the continued impacts of Covid, supply chain issues and the war in Ukraine.

“There is nothing in raising interest rates, nothing in Jerome Powell’s toolkit, that deals directly with those. And he admitted it in congressional hearings,” the Massachusetts Democrat said.

Powell’s brief speech at the Fed’s annual conference on Friday was highly anticipated; he suggested at the same rally last year that inflation would be temporary.

His reappointment divided progressives early in President Joe Biden’s administration.