House Passes Bill To Audit The Federal Reserve

By Cornelius Nunev


The House of Representatives has just approved a bill that would authorize the federal government to audit the Federal reserve. The bill may not go anywhere, but a growing number of individuals want more transparency in how the country's central bank conducts its affairs.

Get audit getting support

The Federal reserve, since its creation in 1913, has held sway in ways that many don't realize impact daily life. It is the nation's central bank, and controls the nation's money supply, inflation rates and, through that, the costs of lending cash. In short, how much a dollar is worth and how costly it is for banks to lend mortgages, installment loans and so forth, is part of what the Federal reserve controls, among other things.

The Federal reserve is also one of the many "independent government agencies." In other words, it's a private business that is part of the government. Some think not enough info is made publicly available by the Fed about its dealings, which has led to many legislators and citizens calling for a bill that would audit the Federal reserve, or rather force the bureau to open its books entirely to scrutiny.

Getting house authorization

A bill has just approved the House of Representatives, according to ABC, that would "open the books" of the Federal reserve, possibly to the Government Accountability Office or some other agency. The bill was, naturally, authored and sponsored by Representative Ron Paul of Texas, a constant critic of "the Fed." The bill passed 327 for to 98.

The basic idea of the bill would allow more access to Federal reserve policy decisions. Right now, records from meetings where the Fed decides to adjust the inflation rate on currency take three weeks to be released and five years for the transcript to come out. The bureau publishes its balance sheet every week online too. CNN points out that Deloitte and Touche just did an internal audit. The audits are done every year. The idea of the bill is for more immediate access though.

Fed chairman Ben Bernanke not okay with it

According to Federal reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, there is no issue with having more transparency in the federal reserve, but he would not be okay with a law that needs an audit, according to Bloomberg. The problem is that it could cause political corruption and manipulation if the Federal reserve is controlled by Congress.

It is not that likely that the bill will become law, Representative Barney Frank said about the law, according to Bloomberg.




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