Donald Trump Blames Biden For Hot Inflation Data As Fed Chief Jerome Powell Grilled On Capitol Hill

deadline.com:

U.S. inflation accelerated in January, unwelcome news to markets, companies and consumers hoping for interest rate relief, as unflappable Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell sat for a second day on Capitol Hill peppered with questions from lawmakers about the Fed’s independence, Elon Musk and Donald Trump — who slammed high rates in a social media post today. “You previously said that you would not resign if [Donald] Trump asked you to do that.

Do you stand by that commitment?” asked one lawmaker on the House Financial Services Committee. “I have no changes to that,” Powell responded. “Would you like to tell us today that you won’t let DOGE into the Federal Reserve to have access to the systems and the data?” asked another, referring to the new Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency. “We’ve had no contact.

And I have nothing to report today on that,” said Powell. And asked about the Fed independence at a time of disconcerting reach by the Trump Administration, he said it’s key. “Politicians who want to be re-elected … are not going to be focused on the longer term.

We have that mandate. To stay out of that. To stay out of election cycles … serving the public as a whole.” That understanding, of the need for an independent central bank, is uniform across all developed economies, he added.