The overseer of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac called Wednesday for Congress to investigate Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, accusing the central bank chief of lying to Congress.
In a Wednesday statement, Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) administrator Bill Pulte accused Powell of lying to lawmakers during testimony before the Senate Banking Committee last week.
Pulte said Powell lied to members of the Banking panel when answering questions about renovations to the Fed’s Washington, D.C. headquarters, which have drawn criticism from Republican lawmakers.
When pressed by senators on the Fed’s alleged $2.5 billion renovation plan, Powell said some of the more fanciful inclusions were part of older plans and have since been scrapped. Others costs, such as repairing elevators that go directly to board member’s offices and marble fixtures, were basic upkeep of features that have always been in the building, he said.
Pulte, however, accused Powell of deliberately misleading senators with “deceptive” testimony, and argued his statements were enough to qualify as adequate cause to fire him.
“This is nothing short of malfeasance,” he said.
