Jerome Powell accused of lying to Congress over – Business News
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is being accused of lying to Congress after he denied that a $2.5 billion revamp of the central bank’s Washington headquarters will load the ability with lavish facilities — and a few are demanding that he be punished, The Post has discovered.
Powell known as The Post’s unique report in April concerning the bloated renovation project — which led Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) to liken it to the “Palace of Versailles” during a grilling by the Senate Banking Committee final week — “misleading and inaccurate”.
“There’s no VIP dining room, there’s no new marble. There are no special elevators,” Powell insisted beneath questioning from the highly effective panel on Wednesday. “There are no new water features, there’s no beehives, and there’s no roof terrace gardens.”
Powell was accused by Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) of making “a number of factually inaccurate statements” during his testimony to the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday. Jack Forbes / NY Post Design
But Powell — who’s in the meantime going through heat from President Trump over a failure to slash rates of interest — straight contradicted the project’s own planning paperwork, which had been signed off by authorities pen pushers in 2021 — and which haven’t been revised since.
The expensive vainness project was signed off by US authorities pen pushers in 2021 and prices are already overrunning. NCPC
“The private dining rooms on Level 4 (of the Fed’s Eccles building) will be restored,” reads one excerpt from the submitting with the National Capital Planning Commission. “The Governors’ private elevator will be extended to discharge at the dining suite level.”
The paperwork additionally expressly point out “vegetated roof terraces” that can welcome “urban wildlife and pollinators” in addition to new marble and water options.
Andrew T. Levin — a professor of economics at Dartmouth College who served as an economist and advisor to the Fed’s board from 1992 to 2012 — urged Congress to step in and punish Powell for lying to lawmakers.
“A top Fed official cannot be permitted to make false statements under oath at a congressional hearing. Such statements must be promptly corrected, and in egregious cases, subject to censure by the Senate,” Levin stated.
Andrew T. Levin, a former Fed official, has argued for stronger Congressional oversight of the central bank. Dartmouth
Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), a majority member of the Senate Banking Committee, advised The Post that Powell “was clearly not prepared for his testimony, and should be embarrassed.”
“He made a number of factually inaccurate statements to the Committee regarding the Fed’s plush private dining room and elevator, skylights, water features, and roof terrace,” Lummis stated in a assertion to The Post. “This is typical of the mismanagement and ‘don’t bother me’ attitude that Chair Powell has always shown.”
A Fed spokesman declined to remark.
Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), a majority member of the Senate Banking Committee, advised The Post that Powell “was clearly not prepared for his testimony, and should be embarrassed.” Getty Images
The 72-year-old Powell additionally appeared to dismiss issues that the revamp was being sponsored by American taxpayers in Wednesday’s listening to, saying merely that “the cost overruns are what they are.”
The eye-watering price tag for the overhaul has already ballooned by 30% from an authentic estimate of $1.9 billion.
Sen. Scott, chair of the Senate Banking Committee, branded the renovations as “luxury upgrades that feel more like they belong in the Palace of Versailles.”
Sen. Tim Scott grilled Powell concerning the eye-wateringly costly renovations after the Post’s April expose on the Fed’s DC HQ. AP
After The Post broke the story concerning the Fed’s reckless spending on the HQ improve, former Department of Government Efficiency chief Elon Musk known as the information “an eyebrow raiser.”
The Tesla titan, who has since left authorities, stated DOGE ought to “definitely” examine how a lot money got here to be blown on the glorified vainness project.
By comparability, JPMorgan’s new headquarters in Midtown Manhattan — a luxe, 60-story tower at 270 Park Ave. designed by star architect Norman Foster — is set to value an estimated $3 billion.
Planning paperwork posted online seem to straight contradict Chair Powell’s testimony to the Senate Banking Committee. NCPC
The revelations are controversial at a time when the Fed is battling mounting losses, which stand at a complete of $233 billion from the previous three years.
Its curiosity prices surged and outstripped its earnings on bonds it owns when Powell hiked charges in attempting to tame rampant inflation during the Biden administration.
It sank into the crimson for the primary time in its historical past, posting losses of $114.6 billion in 2023. Officials there insist that dropping money in no means impacts their skill to operate and conduct financial coverage.
When the Fed makes a revenue, that money is then handed on to the US Treasury to turn into half of the federal authorities’s price range.
The losses are bundled collectively in what is named the Fed’s “deferred asset” that it should pay down earlier than money will be spent on different issues, corresponding to protection, training, and Medicare.
