Calling inflation the highest she has seen in her lifetime, Sen. Katie Britt questioned Fed Chairman Jay Powell on the nation’s economy and “generationally high inflation.”

“Over the past two years we have seen the highest inflation of my lifetime – driving up costs for American families across the board,” she said.

Powell spoke Tuesday at a hearing of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Britt also asked Powell to address protecting American financial consumers, and ensuring that financial regulators do not moonlight as climate policymakers.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the annual inflation rate in 2021 was 7%, and in 2022, it was 6.5% and the cost of food went up 10% in 2022, Britt (R-Montgomery) said.

“The real effect of that is moms and dads across this nation that are working to put food on the table for their kids, for their babies, had a harder time doing that,” she said. “This has devastated hardworking Americans, causing a kitchen table crisis in every corner of our country, as the price of food, energy, and housing have all skyrocketed.”

Britt asked Powell if there were to be an increase in energy production in the United States, would it bring down inflation.

“I think over time more energy would mean lower energy prices, but we are very focused on what we call core inflation, because that really is, that is what is driven by, really by demand and our tools are really aimed at demand,” he said.

“Right, understood,” Britt said. “But I feel like the cost of energy is not just what you pay at the pump, it ends up affecting every good across this great nation.

In the hearing Britt also addressed her view on capital requirements, “I believe that increasing capital requirements on financial institutions would have a chilling effect on the economy and the availability of financial services.”

Austen Shipley is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News.