In response to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors cutting interest rates by half a percentage point, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler released the following statement:
The Federal Reserve’s long-overdue decision to cut interest rates today provides a measure of relief to working people who have struggled with unnecessarily high interest rates on credit cards and mortgages while corporate profits soared. Over the past year, inflation has steadily declined—in part as a result of Biden–Harris economic policies that are tackling greedflation and lowering food, energy, gas, and prescription costs—yet the Fed dragged its feet.
Today’s rate cut is an important step toward making life more affordable for working people, including creating a path to buying a home or car, but there is still much more work to be done for families struggling to pay their bills each month. Interest rates are still too high, and our AFL-CIO research shows that corporate CEOs raised prices on consumers last year even though the costs they paid for raw materials went down.
As President, Kamala Harris will build on today’s progress by continuing to take bold steps to lower costs, take on corporate greed, and support worker organizing to increase pay and build an economy that works for all of us. The AFL-CIO is working around the clock to elect Vice President Harris and Governor Tim Walz because they are committed to building an economy for working families.
Contact: Prerna Jagadeesh, 202-637-5018