In service to others in our country. All of us have a role to play in our nations response to the pandemic. At the Federal Reserve we remain committed to using our tools to do what we can for as long as it takes to provide some relief and stability and ensure that recovery will be a strong as possible and to limit lasting damage to the economy. In recent months Economic Activity picked up as the economy began to reopen. Many businesses open their doors and factories restarted production more people of their home to engage in various activities. As a result Household Spending looks to have recovered half of the earlier decline although air travel and hotel has shown much less of a pickup. The recovery and Household Spending owes to federal stimulus payments and expanded Unemployment Benefits that provided substantial and timely support to household income. In contrast the indicators of fixed investment have yet to show the recovery. Even with the improved economic news, overall activity is well below from the pandemic and the contraction of real gdp will likely be the largest on record. The labor market has followed a similar pattern employment rose in may and june as many people return to work temporary layoff layoffs. As a result of the 22 million jobs lost come about one third have been regained as of the june payroll report. The unemployment report at 11. 1 percent remains far above the level before the outbreak and greater of the peak of the Global Financial crisis. In addition the downturn has not fallen equally on all americans and those least able to bear the burden have been the most affected. The rise of joblessness have been especially severe for lowwage workers and women and africanamericans and hispanics. This reversal of economic fortune has appended many lives to create uncertainty about the future. The pandemic has left an imprint on inflation supply constraints have left notably higher prices adding to the burden for those struggling with lost income more broadly weaker demand in sectors such as travel and hospitality are most affected by the pandemic has held down Consumer Prices and overall inflation with a 2 percent objective. Along with the recent increase has challenges at the declining gradually from a peak in april, 19 has increased sharply since mid june. We have entered a new phase to contain the virus which is essential for both the health and the economy. As we has emphasized throughout the pandemic it is extraordinarily uncertain and will depend on our success to keep the virus in check. We have seen some signs in recent weeks the increase of virus cases and renewed measures are starting to weigh on Economic Activity. For example some debit card use has moved down since late june. Recent market indicators show a slowing of job growth full recovery is unlikely until people are confident it is safe to reengage in a broad range of activities. And then taken at all levels of government to support the recovery as long as needed. The Federal Reserves response has been guided by our mandate to have maximum employment along with our responsibilities to have the stability of the financial system. We are committed to have a full range of tools we have held the policy rate near zero since midmarch and stated we would keep it there until we are confident the economy has weathered recent events and will achieve the price stability goals. We are purchasing sizable quantities of mortgagebacked securities to have those conditions in the market which are vital to the flow of credit in the economy. To sustain smooth market functioning and effective transmission of Monetary Policy to increase the holding of mortgagebacked securities at least at the current pace. To take pride Enforcement Actions for household businesses large and small and state and local governments. Without access to credit they are forced to go back to necessities or lose their homes. Businesses could be forced to downsize her close resulting in further job losses and income losses and worsening the downturn. It is essential to mitigate the damage to the economy and promote the economy. We require the support of the Treasury Department and available only with very unusable on unusual circumstances. These benefit the economy by providing financing were not otherwise available. In addition as serving as a backstop the programs appear to have significantly increase the extension of credit from private lenders. We are employing these to the unprecedented extent enabled in large part by financial backing from congress and the treasury. Well use these powers until we are confident we are solidly on the road to recovery. When the time comes after the crisis has passed we will put these tools back in the toolbox. As i have emphasized before these are lending powers not spending powers. The fed cannot grant money to beneficiaries but only create facilities with broadbased eligibility to make close to solid entities that the loans will be repaid. Many borrowers will benefit as will the overall economy. In these cases direct fiscal support could be needed elected officials have the power to tax and spend to make decision where we should direct our collective resources. The fiscal policy action have made a critical difference to communities across the country even so it is the most severe and to take a while to get back that prevailed at the beginning of the year with support from monetary and fiscal policy and before taking your questions i will provide an update on our review of Monetary Policy framework. As a reminder we began a public review of Monetary Policy and strategy tools and munication practices and then how we best meet the maximum state price stability objectives in the years ahead. As is evident the lower level of Interest Rates reduce the scope one the scope to cut Interest Rates. The plans to conclude this review were delayed by the pandemic my colleagues and i resumed our discussions and our focus was on possible enhancements to longer run goals and Monetary Policy strategy. The documents traits these are goals in our approach to Monetary Policy and serves at the foundation for policy actions. Will i do not have any details to share today i am confident we will continue to make progress and will wrap up our deliberations in the near futur future. We understand the work of the fed touches communities and families and businesses across the country. Everything we do is in service to our public mission. We are committed using our full range of tools to support the economy and help assure the recovery from this difficult period will be as robust as possible. Thank you. I look forward to your question questions. And with the financial times. Today the fed decided to extend the liquiditys offline with those banks around the world why is that important for the fed and how concerned are you of the shortages through the pandemic . Our dollar swap line we introduce those back in the beginning of this episode after the pandemic made itself present. Dollar funding markets were in difficult shape at the time. The introduction of the swap lines has really restore the dollar funding market around the world to fairly normal levels of activity. So they served their purpose. But we extended them i guess yesterday morning to facilitate planning by the central bank so people will know those facilities are still there. We want them to be available as long as they are needed and since the crisis and the economic fallout from the pandemic is far from over, we will leave those in place for the time being until we are confident they are no longer needed. Nothing is going on in the market right now that raises concern we want them to be there is a backstop for the markets. Mr. Chairman, you said several times about spending powers but given that allied of the capacity has not been abused or barely used do you think this money that has been dedicated to the treasury should be considered as direct grants to businesses that are in need right now or households given that congress is saying the money is limited and they dont want to pass a large stimulus bill . Is this money doing the best for the nation as a backstop for those programs that dont seem to being used very much right now . Thats a question for congress. They appropriated that mone money, 454 billion for our facilities and its a question for them. You are right. We havent done as much lending as we would like but in a substantial measure thats because the market started to work again fairly soon after we announce the facilities. But also in the short term funding facilities that we set up we didnt need the funding that we thought we would but its important to the facilities stay in place. Thats why we extended them yesterday and my they still stay in place and we are very confident with the pandemic and economic fallout are behind us. I cant really speak to what congress should do but its important that the facilities are there and be fully funded in case the needs do arise down the road than they should be there. Should consideration be given to allow the companies in bankruptcy . Not that im aware of. Are you there . Nbc go ahead. Mr. Chairman. Thank you very much. No doubt you were paying attention to your president on her predecessors a couple days ago they talked about the continuation of the pandemic on Unemployment Benefits and to hear that it could be a disincentive to work. As a followup what have you learned to the degree of which this has led to a widening of the wealth gap in this country that they are experiencing two types of pandemics getting through this based on what they had saved or the initial role to brief that gap. On the first question, i wouldnt want to be giving very detailed specific advice on particular programs and the level they should be at but i will say that this pandemic really represents the biggest shock to the us economy in living memory we were for the lowest levels of employment we had in 50 years to the highest in 90 years and in the space of two months. The response for Fiscal Authority was strong, fast, broad, and appropriately so. We are seeing the results of the earlier strong fiscal actions. When you see Small Businesses staying in business, even though the economy has not sustainably reopened yet in many places, you are seeing what happens with that money so in a broad sense it has been well spent keeping people in their homes and businesses in business which is a good thing. In the broad scheme of things, things, there will be a need for more fiscal policy. Thats up to congress you can see the ongoing discussions they are having. And it suggests to me that both sides are going over various provisions but nevertheless believe there is a need for additional fiscal support. The last thing i will say is that with the expansion even if the reopening goes well and many people go back to work it will still take a fairly long time for the parts of the economy that involve lots of people getting together in close proximity and that means many of the people laid off from those industries as restaurants bars and hotels in public accommodations many people find that hard they cannot go back to their old job. Those people need support i cannot say the exact level that they will need support if they are to pay their bills and spend money and remain in the current rental house or apartment so i think there will be a need. In terms of inequality, its fair to say the burden of the pandemic has fallen on everyone but very heavily on people who work in the Service Industry with relatively lowpaying jobs. A figure that came out of our research if you make 40000 or less then 40 percent chance of losing your job in april and may its fallen very heavily on those that have the financial wherewithal to bear that. That is heavily skewed to minorities and women. In terms of what we are trying to do is create an environment in the Financial Markets and the economy were those people have the best chance they can to go back to their old job or a new job. Everything is directed at that. And one last thing on inequality it is a growing issue in our country and economy for four decades. You can see that in the relative flattening out of income for people lower and middle income with low mobility where the chances of moving up from the bottom to the middle have declined and lower than other comparable wealthy countries its a serious economic problem for the United States but underlying causes not related to Monetary Policy. For decades of evidence suggest the flattening out of education compared to other competitor countries and Technology Advancing if youre on the wrong side of those forces you are stagnated. It is a critical problem for society but fail falls mainly to fiscal policy. We went to push as hard as we can on the employment mandate keeping price stability. We saw people at the lower income labor at the last expansion. The biggest wage increases going to the people at the bottom edge of the wage spectrum so a tight labor market is the best thing the fed can foster for that problem which is serious. Chair you have described your objective as stabilizing markets and with market stabilized now are they doing more to address the function by supporting Macro Economic objectives . And what is your strategy going to be with respect to support your Macro Economic objectives Going Forward . Thank you. You are right the asset purchases sprang from severe dysfunction at the beginning of the Market Reaction with the pandemic thanks to those purchases we have substantially restored functioning markets it is critical that market is part of the bedrock of the Financial Markets and it is essential it works well. That we have always said we understand and accept and are fine with the fact they also foster a stance of Monetary Policy to support Macro Economic outcomes. It is doing both and we understood that for some time. The programs are not structured exactly like qe were with the last aftermath of the financial crisis. Those were focused on longer run securities across the maturities spectrum its clear thats the case. In terms of our strategy that remains to be seen as you know we spent a lot of time in meetings this year looking at the tools we have to adjust our current stance we do feel the current stance is appropriate. We cut rates close to zero in the beginning and ramped up asset purchases and gave Forward Guidance on both of those to understand and Market Pricing is consistent. We think the policy stances a good one and what is deemed as appropriate. Thank you for taking my question. Can you tell us about the credit stability during those conversations . Blackrock user agent we make the policy decision with our colleagues and they just execute our plans. Actually dont remember what he was talking about but he is the head of a Major Service provider and checks and to see if we are okay with the quality of the service that blackrock is providing. I dont have the daily facetoface interaction with anybody else that blackrock. Or three phone calls in the course of a few months are not very many. I think their conflicts are managed extremely carefully in the arrangements that we have with them. And again i cannot recall exactly what those conversations were but it would be about the markets. Generally exchanging informatio information. And typically trying to make sure that we get good service from the company he founded. Thats his Main Objective when we talk. Thank you mr. Chairman. Scott with npr can you give us an update on the clean shortage you talked about last month and what does that tell us about the economic circulatory system . The situation with queens is the quantity is going up and was adequate before the pandemic but circulation stopped because stores were closed and banks were closed and customers were not spending. So the queen stopped moving in the system. Since i began to happen we saw that happening right away, we been working to try to reverse that disruption of the supply chain to restore normal circulation where working with us mint to address the issue. Just last week they issued a statement asking for the publics help to keep choline circulating people put their coins back into circulation we also have a choline task force for banks and the armored carriers and the Credit Unions and everybody in the clean supply chain we are in frequent communication with the banks and the armored carriers to get back to where we need to be. We do think the inventory is going up the mint is making coins as fast as i can but things happen some come to work with covid i think this happened in almost every factory around the country and then they shut down for a day and then they come back. We are closely monitoring it it is a significant issue we have a lot of resources on it and we feel we are making progress. Thank you. Thank you for taking my question. Can you be more specific about any risks you see with a doubledip recession or the sign the economy is stalling compared to the science we were seeing earlier in the summer . Thank you very much. I will talk more broadly about the outlook. So Economic Activity takes off beginning in may through june remaining well below levels because i would say job gains reversed about one third of the job losses from march and april and spending was reversed to half of the drop but nonetheless those were stronger than we expected. So what happened is along with that positive data we got the virus and then starting in the middle of june was space around the country that brings us to a new point that in addition to the Health Crisis we have to remember it is a Health Crisis and these are people with the coronavirus is taking a terrible toll. So dealing with the economic ramifications so we see that we monitor what we think of as nonstandard highfrequency data thats very important even more than usual and what that data shows on balance is the pace of the recovery looks like it has slowed since the cases began so Consumer Spending based on credit card data have moved down market indicators point to slowing in job growth Hotel Occupancy rates of flattene flattened, people are not going out to restaurants or bars or beauty salons as much and consumer surveys by the way have move back up sharply that they may be softening again. There are still areas of strength in housing and Motor Vehicles nonetheless on balance it looks like there is a slowing of the recovery but its too early to say how large that is and how sustained it will be we just dont know because we have to wait to see the actual data. But this is what we are seeing and we are monitoring it carefully. I would be remiss not to stress that the path of the economy will depend on the course of the virus and the measures that we take to keep it in check. The economy right now social distancing measures actually go together they are not in competition with each other. Thank you. Thank you for taking my question. You added to the statement of course the economy depends on the path of the virus is this idea or is it not widely enough understood that you warned back in may that too early reopening or incautious could hurt the economy do you feel that wasnt heard that openings took place when they shouldnt . I think we feel it might be the most central factor or driver of the path of the economy right now is the virus. Now you see that again during the lockdown when we got cases way down the economy would reopen and spending would go up and hiring would go up and now the cases have spiked agai again, highfrequency data suggests there is a slower pace of growth for now we dont know how deep or how long that will be. Its such an important part we thought it should be in the post meeting statements. It is a fundamental. We cannot say it enough. Its really important. Think of it has three stages. There is a lockdown. We know what that looks like and we will get the data on gdp being down, then the reopening and we would respect on expect many of those jobs could be done without exposure and should be able to go back to work during that phase fairly quickly but that depends on being able to keep the virus under control was social distancing measures. Thats where we are in such an important factor we all talk about it so we thought it had to be in the statement. Mr. Chairman im wondering you talk a lot about using all of your tools the talked about from accommodation so what did you actually do . You set up a Lending Program a lowered rate that zero. The tools you talk about are in service of keeping Interest Rates low. Unless you go to negative Interest Rates what additional accommodation the fed can bring or who was it up to at this point to add additional help . You are right. We are committed to use the full range of tools to support the economy at this difficult time and we will always remain committed in that sense. We feel we have ways to further support the economy certainly through the credit and liquidity facilities that are effectively unlimited and we can adjust those programs and also our Forward Guidance and asset purchases there are things we can do we feel we have the ability to do more. But i would not disagree with the importance of fiscal policy with your statement. Fiscal policy can address things that we cant if there are particular groups that need help or direct monetary help as the tpp program you can save businesses and jobs in the case where lending a Company Money might not be the right answer they may not want to take out a loan or pay workers who cant work because there is no business so lending is a particular tool we use that aggressively the fiscal policy is essential and congresses action early in a pandemic is historically large by any standard around the world its really helping now and will stand up very well to scrutiny the very fast and openhanded response as i have said more will be needed from all of us and i can see congress negotiating now over any packag package. Thank you mr. Chairman for taking my question. You talked about the fomc statement linked to the path of the virus. It looks like a vaccine could come this year october or the end of the year. As the committee talked about how that could change policy . If that helps inflation get back to where you want it to be . With the concept of vaccine comes up in our discussion, of course but our job is not to plan for the upside. The upside cases covered we are to plan for the full range of things that could happen so we are assuming we will continue to assume that our facilities are needed and policies are needed and the public needs the support we are giving the public until shown otherwise there is great uncertainty around the therapeutics and vaccines of course you want that to happen as soon as possible but we cannot plan that we have to hope for the best and plan for the worst. In terms of inflation, i know. Fundamentally this is a this inflationary shock there is discussion how it could lead to inflation over time but we see this inflationary pressures around the world going into this now we see a demand and core inflation dropping a 1 percent. And i do think for quite some time we will be struggling against this inflationary pressures versus inflation. Thank you for taking my question. We do monitor the rising infections can you speak to what triggered . And on the flipside is it reasonable to expect that would raise again . As we said we carefully monitor the situation we move very quickly and aggressively early. We have been monitoring the situation. Policies are in a good place. But looking at ways of adapting policy as time goes by. I cannot give you a specific trigger we just think it would help more than what were doing now to Foster National employment and stable prices. Your second question . When it would be reasonable to raise again. As i said earlier we are not even thinking about raising rates. We are totally focused on providing the economy the support it will need we think it will need highly accommodative Monetary Policy for an extended period and we are absolutely committed to stay in this until we are very confident it is no longer needed we will not be sending signals for a very long time. We are in this until we are all through it. The picture is the lockdown and then the reopening but there will probably be a long tail where a large number of people are struggling to get back to work because of the affected areas of the economy will be challenged to employ the millions of people who are now out of work. 14Million People are now out of work that were working in february. Something like that. That could take a while with everyones reckoning and everyone should know we will be there for all of that. Thank you for taking my question. You mentioned earlier the labor market we had was the best in 50 years and the black Unemployment Rate was still double of rate one of the whites. We have seen to target that gap with the minority Unemployment Rates. Even if you dont get a mandate from congress is this something you would consider Going Forward and i also want to ask talking about her time at the fed describing harassment that others have also spoken to. First with unemployment, you are right we always point this out in our remarks, while the aggregate Unemployment Rate was three. 5 percent, every economy, every the market has longer run issues. One of ours is the disparate level of unemployment between blacks and whites and it is generally twice as high for blacks. So this was the lowest black Unemployment Rate in 50 years or since we started keeping records which was less than 50 years ago. It is the fact its not a good fact. But in recent years we have started to focus considerable time and attention on disparate levels of unemployment among different racial groups and demographic groups we could discuss those in the fomc discussions. We call them out in testimony and speeches a Monetary Policy you will see it everywhere and all the things that we do. What does that mean . We have learned a tight labor market really does a lot of good things for minorities and people in the income spectrum in general but the tight labor markets it took eight years the eighth and ninth and tenth year of that expansion to get to those benefits. We need more than that thats not a good strategy. We will get back there as fast as we can because thats what we can do but society more broadly can affect these things. We dont have tools that can address distribution are disparate outcomes as well as fiscal policy. Or policy generally your education or healthcare. That is all much better. You will see the black Unemployment Rate discussed all the time and what we do and clearly we understand now its something to way with a tight labor market so in a world where we dont have the best tools to address that. That is something we are doing. So i have not seen that although someone did mention it to me. I will take a look at it. It without having had a chance to look at it and understand it they think its fair to acknowledge theres a lot of pain and in justice and unfair treatment in the workplace like every other organization but we made it a very high priority to have a diverse and Inclusive Organization as we can. I think weve made a lot of progress where people can disagree the must do so respectfully in my experience from my career in business is that the real successful organizations get this. If you want to attract the best people you have a diverse and inclusive workforce and workplace. We may diversity a priority. Big issue for the economics profession. With the aea task force with janet yellen and bembenek he cohosted an event last year or the year before. And about these issues. We are doing a lot to foster a respectful climate particularly for women that all people. It is a high priority for us as an organization but i will look into that. When this is over. Jobless claims rose again recently. How big are the risks of the Unemployment Rate trending negative this summer . As i mentioned earlier of course the official labor Market Report comes out once a month and no one has a very good record lately predicting what they will say. So humility is appropriate thinking to understand where this is going. But there is evidence in highfrequency data. You get pictures of spending and peoples movements. And it looks like we see a slowdown in the rate of growth. It could be shortlived or not. The timing seems to be related in spike of cases that began in june. I dont want to get ahead of the data so we will have to see. That will answer the question and recent experience suggest we have to wait and see. Theres clearly a risk we will see a slowdown in the rate of growth it could still be at a robust level honestly we will not know until we see more data come in. Im with politico thank you for taking my question. You use your emergency authorities to buy assets like bonds. What is the scope of your authority. We have not looked at that. And we have no intention or thought about buying equities. But of those provisions that requires we make facilities with a broad applicability and to focus on one entity it has to be a broad group. There is a live in 13. Three it was we ran or amended after the financial crisis and written in a way to make it challenging to bailout large financial institutions. There was a lot to make sure they would be solvent. We have to meet those requirements we havent made a complete list that using these facilities we could buy Corporate Bonds and municipal bonds. Just to follow up, is it generally projected at debt instruments . The statute does not say that but you could read it that way. Honestly be have not tried to push it to that theoretical limit. Clearly it is supposed to replace lending your stepping in to provide credit when the market is not functioning that is what you are doing with 13. Three. So you have to work within that framework. Thank you for taking my question. Can you hear me . Cutting wages and salaries if the fed is thinking about this indicates inflation can be more volatile. What it tells you is that the labor market has a long way to go to recover. It wasnt perfect. There were always issues with the economy but it has a long way to go now even with two very strong months of job creation. Seven. 5million jobs he still have 14 Million People unemployed. Its a long way to go. Thats a situation of so many people looking for jobs and the economy only partially reopened so as it fully reopens people can go back to work i read reports of that. The reported wages went up lower paid workers didnt go back to work so the average Hourly Earnings went up but clearly there is not much upward pressure on wages and compensation at the aggregate level. And it just underscores again to restore the labor force and whose jobs have gone away for some period of time as they find other work. With this national disaster. I wanted to ask with those asset purchases word you consider inflation. Thats a great discussion we have talked about that in past meetings and we will in future meetings. We havent made any decisions yet on that. You have a couple ways to go. You can say for a specific period of time we will keep rates at a certain level or and tell you achieve a certain Macro Economic goal with inflation or employment goal. For obvious reasons you can imagine where you really want to be targeting Macro Economic outcomes but also faithbased guidance works its not something we have many decisions on that i would not be standing here telling you will go this way or that way. If we would issue Forward Guidance. Thank you hannah. And with that appear one leverage ratio and with that economic recovery. To approach the regulatory minimum requirements . What the stress test shows they passed but right in the middle of the stress test became the pandemic so we quickly dropped three other scenarios which were really bad and many of the banks passed but some didnt. That was done very quickly. We visited and we use the provision that says we can say theres been a Material Change will asked them to resubmit their capital plans we also stopped the share buybacks and limited dividends were working through how that will work. We will send out those stress scenarios on september 30. That process is working that way. But to the collins amendment. And like many other supervisors and regulators around the world. And they have been a source of strength and never enough bad loans. And wellcapitalized and strong and a source of strength. That when they ran up against their leverage ratio which is a non risk sensitive measure. And how much the kid grow. And then we gain that leverage with temporary relief. And with that calculation of the leverage ratio. If congress chooses to do this we want this to be explicitly temporary. This will not be a change permanently of capital standard standards. That gives us the ability and then to serve the customers better. And to have relief with the Swiss National bank. And then to go the balance sheet. I want to ask how its working in tandem with guidance . The idea you try to have some order to that announced the to some sort of explicit guidance . I do think that completion a very high priority looking forward to completing it but we were right on track we were not expecting the pandemic of cours course. Nobody was. It is important to go back and finish that and that will inform what we do Going Forward. But to a very large extent, the changes to Monetary Policy strategy codify the way we are already acting with policies to a large extent were already doing the things its just a way to acknowledge that and put into a document. I cannot say the exact timing but thats a sensible way to think about it. Thank you. Next to the House Reform Committee examines the president s efforts to not count undocumented immigrants in the 2020s than this. The question witnesses on the locality of the issue, the history of the senses and impact of counting and not counting undocumented immigrants. Census director says federal law requires the secretary of commerce to report, quote, the total population, on both, of each state and it requires the president to transmit this information to