New Delhi, July 15 -- whether the central bank that allowed inflation to reach multi-decade highs before acting had genuinely gotten the problem under control, or merely delayed its consequences.

Warsh's semiannual testimony on monetary policy before the full committee, mandated by federal law, offered his most extended public accounting yet of where the Fed stands as it tries to return inflation to its 2 percent target. For American households still paying elevated prices for food, housing, and services, Monday's hearing was less a policy briefing than a progress report on a problem that has defined the past five years of economic life.

"The members of our committee have no tolerance for persistently elevated inflation," Warsh told law...