WASHINGTON—Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen are set to make their first joint appearance on Capitol Hill Tuesday afternoon when they testify on the government’s pandemic relief efforts.
Mr. Powell is expected to tell lawmakers that the economy’s recovery remains far from complete despite recent improvement and that the central bank plans to continue providing support.
“The recovery has progressed more quickly than generally expected and looks to be strengthening,” he said in prepared remarks released Monday. “But the recovery is far from complete, so, at the Fed, we will continue to provide the economy the support that it needs for as long as it takes.”
The Fed has held its benchmark interest rate near zero since the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic slammed the U.S. economy a year ago. Most central bank officials don’t expect to raise the rate until 2024 at the earliest. The Fed also plans to continue buying at least $120 billion a month of Treasury debt and mortgage-backed securities until the economic recovery makes “substantial further progress,” it said in its latest policy statement.
The hearing, which will be Ms. Yellen’s first since being sworn in as Treasury secretary, is required each quarter under the March 2020 Cares Act, which provided the Treasury with $454 billion to support emergency Fed lending programs as the pandemic unfolded last year.
