Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell repeated on Wednesday that the central bank is in no rush to cut interest rates during a congressional hearing convened shortly after data showed U.S. consumer prices rose faster than expected in January in a sign progress on inflation may remain stalled.

Powell defended the central bank’s independence from elected lawmakers’ desires. “Research over many, many years…shows that some degree of independence is very important in keeping inflation under control,

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the latest consumer price data show that while the central bank has made substantial progress toward taming inflation, there is still more work to do.