Ben Bernanke Defends Federal Reserve to Darrell Issa
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is pushing back against congressional criticism that the central bank has gone too far in trying to stimulate the economy and said that the Fed has room to do more if needed.
With the economy growing at a slow pace there has been increasing scrutiny over whether the Fed should take additional steps to boost growth and try to lower high unemployment levels. In a letter sent this week to House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa and obtained by POLITICO, Bernanke said the Fed has weapons left in its arsenal but was careful not to say whether or when they will be deployed.
"There is scope for further action by the Federal Reserve to ease financial conditions and strengthen the recovery," Bernanke said in his August 22 letter to Issa, who has criticized the Fed's economic efforts.
"By putting downward pressure on longer term interest rates," the Fed has "helped to promote a stronger recovery than otherwise would have occurred, and to forestall the possibility of a slide into deflation," Bernanke wrote defending past actions taken by the central bank.