Federal Reserve officials have been pressing Congress to provide more fiscal help to the U.S. economy, and with good reason: The central bank is running out of ways it can help.
Since the expiration of key provisions of the $2.2 trillion CARES Act lifeline that Congress extended in March, the Fed again has been relied on as the economy’s key support system. The central bank has kept policy extraordinarily loose, continuing to offer its lending and market-boosting programs, and now resolving that it likely won’t raise short-term interest rates for years.
