Fed Chairman Says “Federal Budget is on an Unsustainable Path, with High and Rising Debt”

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell testified before Congress that “the federal budget is on an unsustainable path, with high and rising debt”. His statement came with news the federal budget deficit increased $134 billion in the month of October. Additionally, the federal budget deficit for fiscal year 2019 totaled $984 billion, and in 2020 the deficit is estimated to surpass $1 trillion. While the deficit is growing, it is still short of the recent 2011 floor of $1.3 trillion, however, it is also falling off the 2015 level of $440 billion.

Chairman Powell commented that he is “concerned that high and rising federal debt can, in the longer term, restrain private investment and, thereby, reduce productivity and overall economic growth.” “Putting the federal budget on a sustainable path”, he added, “would aid the long-term vigor of the U.S. economy”.

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