Federal Reserve policies to keep interest rates low after the recession have hurt retirement savers and retirees, experts from conservative think tanks told Congress Wednesday.

Paul Kupiec, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, said the Fed’s low interest rates could be lowering the standard of living of some people saving for retirement by forcing them to put more of their money away to meet a savings goal.

“For other households [low Fed interest rates] could make it impossible for some households to meet a savings target and instead induce the household to abandon prudent savings habits and consume more of their current income,” Kupiec said.

Extended periods of ultra-low rates not only put self-funded retirement out of reach for many households, but they also make it more difficult to build precautionary savings or purchase insurance against long-term hazards, he said.

Kupiec explained that if interest rates are zero, 25-year-olds making $50,000 per year would have to save nearly 38 percent of pre-tax earnings during their careers to save the $1.3 million needed on top of Social Security to achieve an 80 percent income replacement rate in retirement.

A lack of savings induced by low interest rates may force many people to borrow from high-cost, nontraditional sources like payday or auto-title lenders when they experience unanticipated expenses, Kupiec said.

Norbert Michel, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, said monetary policy is not working for Main Street America and low rates have hurt retirees by lowering the interest they get from government and corporate bonds and bank savings vehicles.

The two conservative scholars spoke at a session of the House Financial Services Committee, where Rep. Bill Huizenga, chairman of the Capital Markets Subcommittee, said Federal Reserve policies are failing middle Americans and that only Wall Street folks and accredited investors are doing great.

“It should be a concern for all of us,” Huizenga said.

Speaking in defense of the central bank, Karen Dynan, who was the Treasury Department’s chief economist during the Obama Administration, told the committee that the Fed’s keeping interest rates low has helped retirees and others by increasing home values and stock prices.

“Retirement security in this country is higher, not lower, because of the Federal Reserve’s actions in recent years,” Dynan said.