Senators to Chair Powell: ‘You have kept interest rates too high for too long: it is time to cut rates’
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators John Hickenlooper, Elizabeth Warren, and Jacky Rosen sent a letter to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, urging the Fed to cut the federal interest rates that have increased housing and insurance costs for working families.
“The Fed’s current interest rate policy is also having the opposite of its intended effect: it is driving up housing and auto insurance costs, which are currently the main drivers of the overall inflation rate,” wrote the senators. “…The country is already facing a severe housing shortage, and the Fed’s refusal to bring down interest rates is exacerbating this shortage and driving higher inflation rates.”
Since March 2022, the Fed has raised interest rates eleven times, pushing them to their highest levels in over 20 years to 5.5 percent. Major central banks around the globe have already cut rates or are leaning towards lowering interest rates — including the European Central Bank, which cut its rates last week from 4% to 3.75%.
Despite many economists and legislators calling for rate cuts, the Fed has yet to lower rates at home, threatening the economy and causing housing and auto insurance costs to rise. These higher costs continue to harm working families across the country.
This most recent letter comes after Hickenlooper has called on the Fed to consider the negative impacts of its continued interest rate hikes on American families:
- In October 2022, Hickenlooper called on the Federal Reserve to pause rate hikes in a letter to Chair Powell
- In January 2023, Hickenlooper sent another letter to the Federal Reserve cautioning against another interest rate increase in the face of rising layoffs and reduced employment
- In January 2024, Senators Hickenlooper, Warren, Rosen, and Whitehouse sent a letter to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, calling on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates and address the affordable housing crisis
Full text of the letter is available HERE.
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