1.This Act may be cited as the Federal
Reserve Credit Facility Review Act of 2009
.
2.The Congress finds as follows:
(1)In August 2007, liquidity abruptly dried up
in credit and securities markets.
(2)This lack of
access to affordable credit was initially limited to financial firms with
interests in mortgage-backed securities that contained subprime and predatory
mortgages.
(3)The lack of access
to credit quickly spread throughout the financial services industry, and
eventually worldwide.
(4)At
the inception of the financial crisis, the Board of Governors of the Federal
Reserve System responded by exercising its authorities in the traditional
manner to effect the Federal funds rate target, which culminated in a December
16, 2008, decision to establish a Federal funds rate target range of 0 percent
to 0.25 percent.
(5)The Board of
Governors of the Federal Reserve System, as it employed its traditional tools
to provide liquidity and stability to the financial markets, came to
acknowledge the severity of the current crisis by exercising its authority to
act in response to unusual and exigent circumstances
.
(6)The Federal Reserve has exercised its
authority to address unusual and exigent circumstances
no less
than 11 times since the beginning of the financial crisis.
(7)Before this financial crisis, the Board of
Governors of the Federal Reserve System last exercised its authority to address
unusual and exigent circumstances
in 1934.
(8)In
connection with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System’s efforts
to address unusual and exigent circumstances, the Board extended assistance to
nonmember institutions, something it had not done since 1959.
(9)In connection with
the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System’s efforts to address
unusual and exigent circumstances, the Board has purchased debt obligations
from government-sponsored enterprises, something it had not done since
1981.
(10)In the course of the crisis, the Federal
Reserve established joint programs with the Department of the Treasury to aid
financial markets, such as the guarantee of Citigroup's and Bank of America's
assets, the Term Asset-Backed Securities Lending Facility, and the
Public-Private Partnership Investment Program.
(11)On February 10,
2009, Chairman Ben Bernanke affirmed his commitment to transparency when he
testified to the Committee on Financial Services of the House of
Representatives that the Federal Reserve is committed to keeping the
Congress and the public informed about its lending programs and balance
sheet
.
3.Reviews of
special Federal reserve credit facilitiesSection 714 of title 31, United States Code,
is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
(e)Reviews of credit
facilities of the Federal Reserve System
(1)Subject to paragraph
(3) and notwithstanding any limitation in subsection (b) on the auditing and
overseeing of certain functions of the Board of Governors of the Federal
Reserve System or any Federal reserve bank, the Comptroller General may conduct
reviews, including onsite examinations when the Comptroller General determines
such actions are appropriate, of credit facilities established by the Board or
any Federal reserve bank, and of the establishment of such credit facilities by
the Board or any Federal reserve bank—
(A)in carrying out
any action or function approved by the Board under the 3rd undesignated
paragraph of section 13 of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 343) as the
lender of last resort; or
(B)in providing
temporary assistance to private institutions as the lender of last
resort.
(2)As of the date of the enactment of the
Federal Reserve Credit Facility Review Act of 2009, the credit facilities to
which this subsection applies include the following:
(A)Money Market Investor Funding
Facility.
(B)Asset-Backed Commercial Paper Money Market
Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility.
(C)Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan
Facility.
(D)Term Auction Facility.
(E)The Primary Dealer Credit Facility.
(F)The Commercial Paper Funding
Facility.
(G)The Term Securities Lending Facility,
including the Term Securities Lending Facility Options Program
(H)Maiden Lane, LLC.
(I)Maiden Lane II,
LLC.
(J)Maiden Lane III,
LLC.
(K)The Revolving Credit Facility.
(L)Reciprocal currency arrangements with
foreign central banks.
(M)Mortgage Backed Securities Purchase
Program, as well as the purchase of debt obligations from a Government
Sponsored Enterprise.
(N)Any special purpose vehicle through which
any such credit facility conducts any activity or lending.
(3)Paragraph (1) shall cease to apply after the expiration
of the 5-year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this
subsection.
(4)
(A)A report on each review conducted under
paragraph (1) shall be submitted by the Comptroller General to the Congress
before the end of the 90-day period beginning on the date on which such review
is completed.
(B)The
report under subparagraph (A) shall include a detailed description of the
findings and conclusion of the Comptroller General with respect to the review
that is the subject of the report, together with such recommendations for
legislative or administrative action as the Comptroller General may determine
to be
appropriate.
.
4.
(a)Section 714(d)(1) of
title 31, United States Code, is amended—
(1)in the first
sentence, by inserting or any credit facility established by an
agency
after an agency
; and
(2)by inserting after
the first sentence the following: The Comptroller General shall have
access to the officers, employees, contractors, and other agents and
representatives of any agency or any credit facility established by an agency
(as specified in subsection (e)) at any reasonable time as the Comptroller
General may request. The Comptroller General may make and retain copies of such
records as the Comptroller General determines appropriate.
.
(b)Section 714(d)(2) of title 31, United States Code, is
amended—
(1)by inserting
, copies of any records,
after records
;
and
(2)by inserting
or any credit facility established by an agency (as specified in
subsection (e))
after agency
.