Consumer Law

Financial Reform Legislation and Auditing the Federal Reserve

By Brian Wolfman

A little over a month ago, we told you of the Senate Amendment to the financial reform legislation sponsored by Senator Bernie Sanders (and passed 96 to zero) to require an audit of the Federal Reserve. The press is now reporting (go here, for instance) that House-Senate conferees on the legislation have agreed to expand that audit. Here's an excerpt from the Washington Post's article:

[The agreement] expands on language from the Senate bill that would grant the GAO authority to audit the Fed's massive emergency lending programs and compel the agency to release details about the firms that benefited from those programs during the crisis. The new language broadens those audits to include the Fed's discount window and its purchases and sales of government securities, requiring the central bank to disclose details about such transactions within two years after they occur. "The Fed is going to be a lot more transparent," said Rep. Melvin Watt (D-N.C.)

Full post as published by CL&P Blog on June 17, 2010 (boomark / email).