Fed programs and policy have helped ease economic pain during the pandemic. In its dwindling days, the Trump administration will end some of those emergency programs Dec. 31.

U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Congress “may need to do more” to cushion the blow from the pandemic.

Social distancing and wearing masks will help get the economy back to full strength, Powell said Thursday.

Trump has pressured the head of the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates. But he wasn’t the first American leader to do so.

Powell said that government support has so far prevented a recessionary “downward spiral.”

That’s a message that might be reassuring, depending on how the pandemic has treated you, or your business.

The moves are occurring against the backdrop of an improving yet still weak economy.

Senators brought up issues they’ve seen with the government’s small business loan program.

It may take until the end of 2021 for the economy to recover, Jerome Powell said Sunday.

Powell cautioned that numerous bankruptcies among small businesses and extended unemployment for many people remain a serious risk.