Fed’s Powell tells Senate Democrats inflation hardest on working families

By Howard Schneider and Ann Saphir

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Thursday defended the likely need for further interest rate increases despite the possible impact on jobs.

Opening a second day of hearings before the U.S. Congress, Powell faced questioning from Ohio Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown, the chair of the Senate Banking Committee, about the likelihood the Fed’s efforts to control inflation will lead to a disproportionate loss of jobs for members of racial and ethnic minority groups.

“What Fed governors call ‘cooling down’ regular people where I live call layoffs,” Brown said.

“It is working families who suffer most directly and quickly from inflation,” Powell responded, adding that Fed officials at this point feel “it will be appropriate to raise rates again this year, and perhaps twice, assuming the economy performs as expected.”

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