BERNANKE TESTIFYING ON CAPITOL HILL

FOX NEWS:

WASHINGTON -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke likely will face tough questions this week from lawmakers about taxpayer bailouts of financial companies, slow-moving government efforts to curb home foreclosures and the possibility that the Fed's unprecedented steps to stimulate the economy could spur inflation later on.

The Fed chief is scheduled to deliver a fresh report on the country's economic and financial health in back-to-back sessions on Capitol Hill starting Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. EDT with the House Financial Services Committee.

Skeptical lawmakers also are expected to voice concern about an Obama administration proposal that would expand the Fed's oversight duties over big, globally interconnected financial companies whose failure could imperil the national economy.

Bernanke on Tuesday likely will repeat the central bank's belief that the economy will start growing again sometime in the second half of this year helped by record low interest rates and President Barack Obama's $787 billion stimulus package of tax cuts and increased government spending.

Consumer spending appears to have stabilized, new-home sales are flattening out and declines in capital spending do not look as severe as they had at the beginning of the year, the Fed said last week.

"Bernanke's message: guardedly optimistic. We are seeing signs of the economy's impending turnaround. But it is all pretty much impending still," said Bill Cheney, chief economist at John Hancock Financial Services.