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(SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN JEROME POWELL, SAYING:

"The outlook is still a positive one. There's no reason why this expansion can't continue and there's a lot of value in continuing it."

If it isn't broke, then don't fix it.

That was the message from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell in his testimony Wednesday before a joint economic committee on Capitol Hill, where he told lawmakers economic growth is stable and inflation remains under control.

(SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN JEROME POWELL, SAYING:

"We're seeing this in the 11th year of an expansion, now the longest in U.S. recorded history, what we're seeing is income gains are the highest at the lower levels, lower end of the wage scale and so it's very positive. We're also seeing people being pulled back into the labor market. There's a lot to like about this rare place of the 11 year of an expansion and I think we are certainly committed to doing what we can to extend it."

And that includes keeping interest rates where they are, after cutting them three times this year.

Powell Testified that the rate cuts, which need time to filter through the entire economy, along with a solid labor market are keeping the economy afloat, which in Powell's view is offsetting a drag from international trade.

(SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN JEROME POWELL, SAYING:

"We've been hearing now for a year and a half from companies, and I think this is fairly widely accepted now that tariffs, but to a greater extent uncertainty around future trade policy is for now has being weighing on business sentiment and is probably part of the global slowdown in manufacturing, in business investment, in exports, in trade."

That's as far as Powell would go on that subject, refusing many requests from lawmakers to opine on what U.S. trade policy should be.

Neither would he weigh in on the unrelenting criticism he's been getting from President Trump.

(SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN JEROME POWELL, SAYING:

"Politics play absolutely no rule in our decisions."

What does is the economic outlook.

(SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN JEROME POWELL, SAYING:

"I think the new normal now is lower interest rates, lower inflation, probably lower growth and you're seeing that all over the world and not just the United States."

And that according to Powell means he now has less room to lower rates if and when a recession starts to form, warning lawmakers that they'll have to step up to the plate to provide a boost to the economy.