Jerome Powell: “I was deeply involved in addressing these serial crises and in the major legislation that followed.”

It is a big risk to our independence if we were to stray into areas where we shouldn’t that really aren’t part of our mandate.

The Fed’s credibility would be lost.

Stopping sooner could have made some difference, but not likely enough to fundamentally alter the trajectory of the economy

So we didn't overreact — in fact, we didn't react at all. We're simply taking some time.