The U.S. Federal Reserve has signaled it will hike interest rates higher and faster than expected in order to slow down inflation, after recent data showed a stronger economy than forecast. Last year the Fed raised interest rates at the fastest pace since the 1980s. During a Senate hearing Tuesday, Democrat Elizabeth Warren blasted Fed Chair Jerome Powell for “gambling with people’s lives” by imposing rate hikes that would increase unemployment from 3.4% to 4.6% by the end of the year, according to the Fed’s own projections. 

Sen. Elizabeth Warren: “Do you know how many people who are currently working, going about their lives, will lose their jobs?”

Jerome Powell: “I don’t — I don’t have that number in front of me. I will say it’s not” —

Sen. Elizabeth Warren: “It’s just a math problem. 

Jerome Powell: — “it’s not an intended consequence. It’s not” —

Sen. Elizabeth Warren: “Well, but it is, and it’s in your report. And that would be about 2 million people who would lose their jobs, people who are working right now, making their mortgages.”