Patrick McHenryChairman

Washington, February 20, 2013 - Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling announced today that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will appear before the committee on February 27 at 10 a.m. to deliver the semiannual Monetary Policy Report to Congress.

Chairman Hensarling said, “The Federal Reserve’s concerns about the economy are well founded. Our nation continues to struggle with weak economic growth and chronically high unemployment that leaves millions of Americans lying awake at night pondering insecure financial futures for themselves and their families. However, our economy is not suffering from a problem that monetary policy can solve. Our economy is stressed because of misguided Washington fiscal policies that tax more, borrow more, regulate more and spend more. The Fed’s high-risk strategy of accommodative monetary policy produces little or no marginal benefit but, in the long run, could result in high inflation or high interest rates that send us back into recession. It’s time to face the reality that we have reached the limits to anything monetary policy can do to help the economy.”

The Federal Reserve is required to report to the Financial Services Committee twice a year on the conduct of monetary policy and the state of the economy.