Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell delivered an uncharacteristically blunt call yesterday for Congress and the White House to spend more money to prevent deeper economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic, the Wall Street Journal reported. Congress and President Trump have provided more than $2.6 trillion in several economic assistance measures over the last two months, and Powell lauded those efforts as appropriate. “Will there be a need to do more though? I think the answer to that will be yes,” he said at a news conference conducted remotely. Powell said that policy makers should focus their efforts on protecting workers, businesses and households from “avoidable insolvency.” Those policies, he added, “will come with a hefty price tag, but we would come out of this eventually with a stronger economy.” The Fed didn’t announce new policy measures yesterday after the conclusion of a two-day meeting, but pledged in a statement to use “its full range of tools to support the U.S. economy in this challenging time.” Powell warned of greater economic deterioration to come, including a double-digit jobless rate in the April employment report, to be released next week.
