At a time when congressional hearings seem to be marked by personal insults and sharp attacks, the testimony this week of the Federal Reserve Board chair was a throwback to a different time on Capitol Hill.
It’s not that Jerome Powell has no controversies to deal with. President Donald Trump has repeatedly called Powell a “numskull,” demanding that he cut interest rates to boost the economy.
But in his two days of testimony this week, the Fed chair calmly rejected those pleas, telling lawmakers the main reason those rate cuts are on hold is Trump’s tariffs on imports.
“At this time, all forecasters are expecting, pretty soon, that some significant inflation will show up from tariffs,” Powell explained. “We can’t just ignore that.”
If you haven’t watched Powell navigate a congressional hearing, it’s a study in someone who not only is an expert in his field but who also knows how to avoid the political traps being laid for him by lawmakers.
“Has President Trump put forward a coherent tariff policy?” asked U.S. Rep. David Scott, D-Atlanta.
“It’s not a judgment for me to make,” Powell intoned.
“You ought to have an opinion on that,” Scott pressed.
“I would never comment on the president of the United States in that way,” Powell said, parrying efforts to pin him down.
Still, Powell has made clear that Trump’s tariffs, which Republicans used to call tax increases, could take a chunk out of the U.S. economy.
In May, Uncle Sam collected $22.2 billion in tariffs, up from $17 billion in May 2024.
That dovetails with a Congressional Budget Office estimate, which found that Trump’s tariffs would raise about $250 billion per year in new tax revenues.
“We’re looking at tariffs that are raising the prices of groceries, fuel, housing and everyday goods,” U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams, D-Atlanta, complained to Powell. “It’s hurting my community in Atlanta.”
But so far, the impact of those tariffs hasn’t shown up on Powell’s inflation radar screen. That’s why Republicans were pushing for a cut in interest rates.
“How many months of steadiness do you need?” asked one GOP lawmaker.
“We would expect to see meaningful effects” in June, July and August, Powell said. “And if we don’t, we’ll be learning something.”
“It’s certainly a possibility that the tariffs that we expect will come through in a much smaller level,” Powell said.
It was classic Powell. He made his case with no drama, no yelling and no insults before Congress.
We could probably use more of that. But that doesn’t seem to be where the American political system is going right now.
Jamie Dupree has covered national politics and Congress from Washington, D.C., since the Reagan administration. His column appears weekly in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. For more, check out his Capitol Hill newsletter at http://jamiedupree.substack.com
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