Congress blasted Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke in a hearing before the Joint Economic Committee Wednesday.
“I feel like the economy is in the outpatient room and I feel like the Fed continues to give it medicine, but my worry is that the Fed does not have the prescription for what ails our economy,” said committee Chairman Kevin Brady.
“It’s not responsible to focus all of the restraint on the very near term and do nothing on the long term, which is where most of the problem exists,” said Bernanke.
Bernanke is concerned that Congress is focusing its problems on the short-run issues. According to Bernanke, Congress needs to come to an agreement and fix the long-term fiscal problems.
Bernanke said, “In the longer run increasing the potential growth of the economy, that’s not the Fed’s job. That’s the private sectors job and Congress’s job.”
Congress is worried that the Fed has been using the same tactics for too long and no impact has been made.
Bernanke’s focus was not on quantitative easing, but rather telling Congress to get its act together.