Narayana Kocherlakota, Columnist

Congress Has an $8 Billion Plan for Coronavirus. It's Not Enough.

Policy makers should stimulate the economy as well as help public health agencies.

March 4, 2020 at 6:30 PM UTC

Narayana Kocherlakota is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is a professor of economics at the University of Rochester and was president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis from 2009 to 2015.

A sea of red.
Photographer: Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images

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On Tuesday, following the advice of many outside commentators (including me), the Federal Reserve responded to the turmoil and risks caused by the coronavirus by cutting interest rates in a highly unusual intermeeting move. That’s a good start, but the Fed must do more. And if it is to be successful in stabilizing the economy and markets, it needs help from its congressional overseers.

Today, Congress agreed to fund a $7.8 billion response to the outbreak. But this is a small drop in what is likely to be a big bucket. Congress must do a lot more.