Biden, Powell Meet With Inflation at Its Highest in 40 Years
The Fed chairman has indicated that the central bank could continue raising rates at a faster clip.
Photo:
olivier douliery/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
President Biden was set to meet at the White House Tuesday afternoon with Federal Reserve Chairman
Jerome Powell
as his administration takes more steps to signal urgency to fight high inflation.
The meeting also highlights, to a significant extent, how much the White House is relying on outside forces to help combat rising prices. Administration officials earlier in the administration repeatedly downplayed such worries while promoting their $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package in March 2021 and in seeking additional spending on social programs and climate change last year.
It is the third meeting between the two men, following Mr. Biden’s interview that led him to offer a second four-year term to Mr. Powell last fall. They were to be joined by Treasury Secretary
Janet Yellen,
who is Mr. Powell’s immediate predecessor as Fed chair.
The Fed is in the process of raising interest rates at the most aggressive pace since the 1980s. Minutes from the Fed’s May 3-4 policy meeting, released last week, show the central bank is likely to lift its benchmark interest rate, currently in a range between 0.75% and 1%, by a half percentage point at its next two meetings, in June and July. The Fed raised rates by a half percentage point at its meeting in early May for the first time since 2000.
The Fed is trying to cool demand to moderate price pressures. But Mr. Powell has conceded that the central bank’s ability to do that without forcing the economy into a recession depends on developments outside the central bank’s control, including global energy markets that have been badly disrupted by Russia’s war in Ukraine and supply chains snarled by the Covid pandemic.
“It is a going to be a challenging task, and it’s been made more challenging in the last couple of months because of global events,” Mr. Powell said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal on May 17. Mr. Powell indicated the central bank could continue raising rates at a faster clip until it sees clear and convincing evidence that inflationary pressures are easing.
Mr. Biden’s meeting with Mr. Powell, who won Senate confirmation to a second term earlier in May, comes as the White House has been seeking to draw a sharper contrast with Republicans on the economy and inflation ahead of next fall’s midterm elections.
Write to Nick Timiraos at [email protected] and Ken Thomas at [email protected]
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
The Fed chairman has indicated that the central bank could continue raising rates at a faster clip.
Photo:
olivier douliery/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
President Biden was set to meet at the White House Tuesday afternoon with Federal Reserve Chairman
Jerome Powell
as his administration takes more steps to signal urgency to fight high inflation.
The meeting also highlights, to a significant extent, how much the White House is relying on outside forces to help combat rising prices. Administration officials earlier in the administration repeatedly downplayed such worries while promoting their $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package in March 2021 and in seeking additional spending on social programs and climate change last year.
It is the third meeting between the two men, following Mr. Biden’s interview that led him to offer a second four-year term to Mr. Powell last fall. They were to be joined by Treasury Secretary
Janet Yellen,
who is Mr. Powell’s immediate predecessor as Fed chair.
The Fed is in the process of raising interest rates at the most aggressive pace since the 1980s. Minutes from the Fed’s May 3-4 policy meeting, released last week, show the central bank is likely to lift its benchmark interest rate, currently in a range between 0.75% and 1%, by a half percentage point at its next two meetings, in June and July. The Fed raised rates by a half percentage point at its meeting in early May for the first time since 2000.
The Fed is trying to cool demand to moderate price pressures. But Mr. Powell has conceded that the central bank’s ability to do that without forcing the economy into a recession depends on developments outside the central bank’s control, including global energy markets that have been badly disrupted by Russia’s war in Ukraine and supply chains snarled by the Covid pandemic.
“It is a going to be a challenging task, and it’s been made more challenging in the last couple of months because of global events,” Mr. Powell said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal on May 17. Mr. Powell indicated the central bank could continue raising rates at a faster clip until it sees clear and convincing evidence that inflationary pressures are easing.
Mr. Biden’s meeting with Mr. Powell, who won Senate confirmation to a second term earlier in May, comes as the White House has been seeking to draw a sharper contrast with Republicans on the economy and inflation ahead of next fall’s midterm elections.
Write to Nick Timiraos at [email protected] and Ken Thomas at [email protected]
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
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