New Fed Chief Gets Same Old Republican Pushback on Balance Sheet
- Lawmakers wheel out favorite attack in Powell’s Fed debut
- Fed officials and lawmakers don’t see eye to eye on final size
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Republican lawmakers made the Federal Reserve’s bloated balance sheet a big political issue for the last two heads of the U.S. central bank. During his first congressional testimony as Fed chairman, they hammered home to Jerome Powell that they were still on the case.
Jeb Hensarling, the Texas Republican who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, began the hearing Tuesday by declaring that “as we begin a new era in Federal Reserve leadership, I think it is a good time to re-establish congressional expectations.”