WASHINGTON – Federal Reserve officials last month believed that while the U.S. economy was recovering faster than expected, it faced ongoing threats, including a failure by Congress to provide further rescue aid.The Fed on Wednesday released minutes of its most recent meeting, showing that officials based their forecasts of economic gains on the expectation that Democrats and Republicans would resolve their differences and provide further aid, including expanded unemployment benefits and help for small businesses.The minutes said that "most forecasters were assuming that an additional pandemic-related fiscal package would be approved this year, and noted that, absent a new package, growth could decelerate at a faster-than-expected pace in.