The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday, March 7, edition that U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday assured members of Congress, who will face inflation-weary voters in a charged presidential election year, that upcoming decisions on when and how fast to cut interest rates would be based solely on economic data. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe reports that House Financial Services Committee chairman Patrick McHenry, a North Carolina Republican, said, "We're in a political year," as he opened a hearing with Mr. Powell by quizzing him on the central bank's rate cut plans and noting that everything the Fed does would be seen through the "lens" of the November presidential rematch between incumbent President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and former Republican president Donald Trump. Rate cuts "really will depend on the path of the economy. Our focus is on maximum employment and price stability, and the incoming data as they affect the outlook, and those are the things we'll be looking at," Mr. Powell said. The Fed "would like to see more data that confirm and make us more confident that inflation is moving sustainably down to 2 per cent" before reducing the policy rate.