Mr. Powell and his colleagues were about to face some of the most trying months in Fed history. By mid-March, as markets were crashing, the Fed had cut interest rates to near zero to protect the economy. “We crossed a lot of red lines that had not been crossed before,” Mr. Powell said at an event in May. It also led Republicans to try to limit the vast tool set of the politically independent and unelected institution. The Fed’s emergency loan programs became a sticking point in the negotiations over the government spending package Congress approved this week.

Source: New York Times December 23, 2020 20:30 UTC