WASHINGTON: The U.S. Federal Reserve is unlikely to be able to shield the U.S. economy from the fallout of a failure to raise the federal debt ceiling, and the U.S. government should never be in a position where it is unable to pay all of its bills, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday.

Powell told a news conference after the Fed's latest rate decision that resolving the debt ceiling standoff was a matter for Congress and the Biden administration.

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"We don't give advice to either side," Powell said. "We would just point out that it's very important that this be done. But the other point I'll make about that, though, is that no one should assume that the Fed can protect the economy from the potential, you know, short and long term effects of a failure to pay our bills on time."