Description

Bes­sent calls for probe into ‘entire’ Fed

US Treas­ury sec­ret­ary Scott Bes­sent has called for an inquiry into the “entire Fed­eral Reserve insti­tu­tion”, in the latest sign of how Don­ald Trump’s admin­is­tra­tion is crank­ing up pres­sure on the cent­ral bank.

Bes­sent’s com­ments come after the US pres­id­ent and his lieu­ten­ants have sharply cri­ti­cised the Fed and its chair Jay Pow­ell for refrain­ing from cut­ting bor­row­ing costs this year. Trump asked a group of Repub­lican law­makers last week whether he should sack Pow­ell but later cla­ri­fied that he had no plans to do so unless he needs to “leave for fraud”.

Trump’s gov­ern­ment recently opened a new front in its cam­paign against the Fed, with the pres­id­ent’s budget dir­ector Rus­sell Vought repeatedly alleging a $2.5bn renov­a­tion of the bank’s headquar­ters had been grossly mis­man­aged.

Bes­sent amped up cri­ti­cism of the Fed yes­ter­day, telling CNBC: “What we need to do is exam­ine the entire Fed­eral Reserve insti­tu­tion and whether they have been suc­cess­ful.” If the Fed­eral Avi­ation Admin­is­tra­tion had made as many mis­takes, he added, “we would go back and look at why”.

The Fed inspector-gen­eral is review­ing the renov­a­tion of its headquar­ters, which involves an over­haul of two build­ings that over­look the National Mall and is $700mn over budget. Pow­ell has also writ­ten to senior sen­at­ors to explain how the cent­ral bank is rein­ing in costs.

The Fed yes­ter­day pub­lished a video tour of the two build­ings.

意思：加大对某事的压力、施压

crank up本意是“把机器的强度调大”，引申为“增强、加剧”
例句：The union cranked up pressure on the government to raise wages.
工会加大了对政府提高工资的压力。

意思：副职，助手；在军队中是“中尉”

在新闻语境中，多指“得力助手”、“副官”、“二号人物”
例句：He was one of the president’s most trusted lieutenants.
他是总统最信任的副手之一。

意思：克制住，避免（去做某事）
例句：Please refrain from smoking in this area.
请不要在此区域吸烟。

意思：指称；宣称（未被证实）

常用于法律或新闻中，表示“有人声称……”，但尚未被证实。
例句：The company is alleged to have falsified its records.
据称这家公司伪造了记录。

意思：增强，加强（强度、活动、能量等）

来自“amplify”，略口语化
例句：The campaign is amping up its social media efforts.
这场竞选正在加强社交媒体方面的投入。

意思：控制，约束（情绪、开支、势力等）

来自马术“拉紧缰绳”
例句：The central bank is trying to rein in inflation.
央行正试图控制通胀。