Fed chair should be investigated by Congress, FHFA head says

Bill Pulte, who leads the Federal Housing Finance Agency, called on Congress to investigate Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, alleging that his recent testimony to the Senate about the central bank’s planned renovations to its headquarters was “deceptive.”“I am asking Congress to investigate Chairman Jerome Powell, his political bias, and his deceptive Senate testimony, which is enough to be removed ‘for cause,’” Pulte said Wednesday in a post on social media platform X, alleging that Powell made inaccurate statements without providing evidence.
Pulte has been ramping up his criticisms of Powell, urging him to resign in a separate X post. As head of a major housing regulatory agency, Pulte has also pushed Powell to lower rates, saying that people are being hurt by high borrowing costs.
President Donald Trump, who has long complained about Powell’s refusal to cut rates quicker, on Wednesday evening amplified the FHFA chief’s call for the Fed chair’s resignation.“‘Too Late’ should resign immediately!!!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social network, using a nickname he has deployed to mock Powell for not lowering interest rates.

The president has intensified a pressure campaign against the Fed chief, lashing out at the bank’s position to hold rates steady. Trump said last month that he’d choose a successor who wants to cut borrowing costs.

Media reports have asserted the Fed’s renovation project of its headquarters has seen swelling costs and includes several extravagant features. During a Senate hearing last week, Powell disputed some aspects of the reports, calling them “misleading and inaccurate in many, many respects.”“All the sort of inflammatory things that the media carried are either not in the current plan or just inaccurate,” he said.

He said the plans for the renovations have continued to evolve, and expressed openness to discussing the project’s costs with lawmakers.

House Financial Services Committee Chair French Hill and a spokesperson for the Fed declined to comment.

Separately, House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan told Bloomberg Television that lawmakers had not discussed the issue specifically but will take a look at it.

The Supreme Court recently shielded the Fed from Trump’s push to oust top officials at independent federal agencies, in a decision likely to quell concerns that the president might move to fire Powell.

Trump sent conflicting signals earlier this year, posting on April 17 that “Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough!” before saying April 22 that he has “no intention of firing him.”

Last week, Trump said he had three or four people in mind to succeed Powell when his term expires next year.