Maloney Pleased by Yellen's Testimony that Fed Will not Raise Rates

Reacting to the testimony of Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen before the House Financial Services Committee, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney issued the following statement:

"I was relieved to hear the Chair testify that the Fed's Open Market Committee is going to exercise patience and not rush to raise interest rates. Doing so prematurely would needlessly throw a damper on the recovery."

"The Chair also acknowledged that too many Americans remain unemployed or underemployed, and that wage growth remains sluggish. The Chair didn't say -- and so I will - that it's time for this Congress to stop wasting our time with pointless political theater, and to do something substantive, like produce an infrastructure bill, to help alleviate some of the very real economic suffering that remains."

Background:

Chair Yellen reassured the members of the Financial Services Committee that before any rate increase occurs, the FOMC would signal its intentions and change its forward guidance. And that was unlikely to happen before the at least the next couple of FOMC meetings. The next two meetings are scheduled for mid-March and the end of April. So doing the math would mean that it's unlikely for there to be any change in Fed rates until this summer at the earliest.

Janet Yellen's testimony today also added to the growing body of evidence that our economic recovery has made tremendous strides and holds great promise. As the Chair pointed out:

The unemployment rate is now 5.7 percent, down from its peak in late 2009 of 10 percent.

In the second half of last year, the average pace of monthly job gains was 280,000 per month

Long-term unemployment has declined substantially

Fewer workers are reporting that they can find only part-time work
Inflation remains low.

Domestic spending and production have been increasing at a solid rate
GDP growth is expected to continue to bring down the unemployment rate

The decline in oil prices is likely to have widespread beneficial effects.

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