{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://dean.house.gov/2022/11/dean-warren-lawmakers-ask-fed-chair-powell-how-many-millions-will-be-thrown-out-of-their-jobs-from-fed-s-dangerous-rate-hikes", "Congresswoman Dean and Senator Warren, with Colleagues, Warn Fed Chair that Rapid Interest Rate Hikes Could Harm Job Market and Trigger a Recession", "2022-11-01", "2022", "2022-11", "Democrat", "House", "PA", "Madeleine Dean", "D000631", "dean.house.gov", "dean", "https://dean.house.gov/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 Congresswoman Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.); Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.); Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.); and U.S. Representatives Jesus \u201cChuy\u201d Garcia (D-Ill.), Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas), Katie Porter (D-Calif.), Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), and Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) sent a letter to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell expressing concern and seeking answers about the Federal Reserve\u2019s (Fed\u2019s) most recent economic projections, its intentions to continue to raise interest rates at a rapid pace, and its disturbing warning to American families that they should expect \u201cpain\u201d in the coming months.\n\n\u201cYou continue to double down on your commitment to \u2018act aggressively\u2019 with interest rate hikes and \u2018keep at it until it\u2019s done,\u2019 even if \u2018(n)o one knows whether this process will lead to a recession or if so, how significant that recession would be.\u2019 These statements reflect an apparent disregard for the livelihoods of millions of working Americans, and we are deeply concerned that your interest rate hikes risk slowing the economy to a crawl while failing to slow rising prices that continue to harm families,\u201d the lawmakers wrote.\n\nOn September 21, 2022, the Fed\u2019s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) announced it would raise its target range for the federal funds rate by 75 basis points for the third consecutive time this year. The Fed has raised interest rates by 3 percentage points since March, \u201cthe fastest increase of that size since 1982,\u201d which is already estimated to \u201chave put about 800,000 job losses in the pipeline.\u201d The FOMC\u2019s Summary of Economic Projections indicated that the federal funds rate will rise by another 1.25 percentage points before the end of the year, and by another 25 basis points in 2023. The Fed projects that unemployment will rise sharply from 3.7% today to 4.4% in 2023 and 2024, implying \u201can additional 1.2 million people losing their jobs.\u201d\n\nThe lawmakers note that a growing group of economists from across the political spectrum have raised concerns that the Fed\u2019s rate hikes needlessly risk throwing millions of people out of their jobs \u2013 with one economist saying, \u201cThe Fed clearly wants the labor market to weaken quite sharply. What\u2019s not clear to us is why.\u201d A United Nations agency recently warned that the \u201cworld is headed towards a global recession and prolonged stagnation unless we quickly change the current policy course,\u201d describing the potential for global recession as a \u201cmatter of policy choices and political will.\u201d Private forecasters project that the Fed\u2019s monetary policy path will push the unemployment rate higher than the Fed\u2019s 4.4% forecast for 2023, and a recent survey of economists shows that 60% agreed that \u201cthe Fed will raise interest rates too much and cause unnecessary economic weakness.\u201d\n\nRaising interest rates cannot address many key drivers of inflation, \u201cincluding lingering supply chain snarls, corporate price gouging, and the war in Ukraine. As you have previously stated, the Fed\u2019s tools are limited in slowing these and other dynamics,\u201d the lawmakers continued.\n\nGiven the lawmakers\u2019 concerns about the consequences of the Fed\u2019s dangerous policy decisions, they are asking Chair Powell to answer a set of questions about how many millions of people the Fed estimates will be thrown out of their jobs due to interest rate hikes, and more information about these and other unemployment forecasts by November 14, 2022.\n\nSee full letter here.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T03:24:37Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://dean.house.gov/2022/11/dean-warren-lawmakers-ask-fed-chair-powell-how-many-millions-will-be-thrown-out-of-their-jobs-from-fed-s-dangerous-rate-hikes"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.3940290082246065, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}