“If you lose that (independence), it will be very difficult to restore the credibility of the institution,” he said, adding that people would then have a hard time believing that the Fed was working in their interests based solely on data and not for particular groups.But he claimed the Fed hasn’t lost out. ‘I don’t believe we will. I certainly hope not.’
Asked whether he was confident in maintaining that independence, he said: “I’m certainly committed to that, and so are my colleagues.”
Also read: The US Federal Reserve is keeping interest rates steady amid persistent inflation and a resilient labor market
President Trump has repeatedly called for higher rate cuts and threatened to fire Powell. In September 2025, Trump appointed Stephen Miran as one of the governors of the Federal Reserve, who subsequently demanded higher interest rate cuts at every Fed meeting. But he was voted out every time. The Justice Department has also opened an investigation into Powell over the Fed’s renovation work, which Trump has accused of raising costs. However, Powell has criticized the Trump administration, saying he believed the investigation was opened because of the Fed’s refusal to cut rates despite pressure from the president.
Powell also said he attended Supreme Court arguments last week on President Donald Trump’s attempt to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook because of the importance of the case to the U.S. central bank. Asked at a news conference why he attended the Supreme Court arguments, Powell said, “I would say that case is perhaps the most important case in the Fed’s 113-year history.” As I thought about it, I thought it might be hard to explain why I wasn’t there.”
Powell added that previous Fed chairs had priority to attend such hearings, noting that Paul Volcker appeared before the Supreme Court in the 1980s and he believed it was appropriate for him to do so as well.
No rate hike at the moment: Fed’s Jerome Powell
Powell on Wednesday watered down the idea that the central bank could have a rate hike in the offing.
“It’s not the base case for anyone right now, the base case for no one is that the next step is going to be a rate hike” as officials weigh their next policy move after a series of rate cuts last year, Powell said at a news conference after the latest meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee.
Powell’s inflation rate in December was also likely still well above the central bank’s 2% target.
At his press conference after the Federal Open Market Committee meeting, Powell said the core personal consumption expenditure index was likely at 3% in the final month of the year, with Powell noting that “these high numbers largely reflect inflation in the goods sector, which has been stimulated by the effects of tariffs continuing in the services sector.”
(With input from agencies)
#Committed #preserving #Fed #independence #claims #Jerome #Powell