The news is filled with reports suggesting that recovery is just around the corner. Economists surveyed by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia predicted that GDP will grow by 4.5 percent this year. Goldman Sachs economists forecast that unemployment will drop to 4.1 percent by year-end.

The bond market responded by worrying about increased inflation, bidding up interest rates a tad. The stock market responded by bidding down stock prices.

And of course Republicans in Congress have responded by throwing more cold water on President Biden’s $1.9 trillion relief package. But hold on a minute.

Take a closer look at these projections and you appreciate that we are still a long way from the robust job creation at good wages that Americans need. According to the Federal Reserve, the real unemployment rate is still north of 10 percent when you count all the people who are out of the labor force. And even if the recovery performs as advertised, we are a long way from solid wage growth.

Riding to the rescue of the Biden plan, playing against type, is Jerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve. At his testimony before the Senate Banking Committee this morning, Powell refused to be used as a partisan pawn.

But he did point out that only half of the 22 million jobs lost to the pandemic recession have been regained; that the suffering has been most severe among lower-income and Black workers; and he did not recant his earlier strong support for the Biden package.

One reason is that Powell appreciates that the Fed, which has extended upward of a trillion dollars in credit to the economy in the form of 13 special lending facilities, is out of monetary-policy tricks. The central bank needs fiscal help from Congress. Another is that his term as chair expires in early 2022 and he is eager to be reappointed by Biden.

Either way, in a battle over whether to borrow nearly $2 trillion to fight the pandemic and the recession, the Fed chair is a good ally to have.