Republican Senators Challenge Janet Yellen

I taught congressional oversight today, so this is interesting.

At NYT, "With Elections Nearing, Republican Senators Take On Yellen on Jobs":

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Thursday sharply questioned Janet L. Yellen, chairwoman of the Federal Reserve, about the persistence of unemployment and the slow pace of the economic recovery during a hearing that highlighted the growing prominence of election-year considerations on Capitol Hill.

The hearing before the Senate Budget Committee flipped the standard script of congressional sessions in recent years with Ms. Yellen and her predecessor, Ben S. Bernanke. Generally, Democrats are the ones who fret about unemployment and the weak economy, while Republicans question whether the Fed will lose control of inflation or destabilize financial markets.

With the midterm elections approaching, however, Democrats are increasingly eager to claim credit for the progress of the economic recovery, while Republicans are emphasizing that the recovery remains weak and incomplete.

Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the ranking Republican on the committee, was particularly critical of the Fed’s performance, sharply questioning Ms. Yellen’s statement that the labor market was showing signs of progress.

“We’ve got fewer people working today than there were in 2007 and the population has increased by 15 million,” he said. “So how is this progress? Please tell me.”

When Ms. Yellen responded that things were getting better, but were still not good, Mr. Sessions suggested the Fed should not overstate the improvement. “From the point of view of working Americans, this is the slowest, most anemic recovery that we’ve seen, ever,” he said. “Whatever we’re doing, we need to get better at it.”

More.

Here's Sessions' opening statement, "Jeff Sessions: Fed Stimulus Has Failed American Workers."

And a brief Yellen clip here (love the accent, heh), "Yellen Details Economic Views to Senate Panel."