[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 17 (Tuesday, February 11, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E201-E202]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           SUNSHINE ON THE FEDERAL OPEN MARKET COMMITTEE ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                      HON. JAMES A. TRAFICANT, JR.

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 11, 1997

  Mr. TRAFICANT. Mr. Speaker, in 1995 the Chairman of the Federal 
Reserve clarified that transcripts of its Federal Open Market Committee 
[FOMC] meetings will be disclosed to the public--after 30 years.
  Enough is enough. I urge my colleagues to once again cosponsor my 
Sunshine on the Federal Open Market Committee Act, which will apply the 
Government-in-the-Sunshine Act to FOMC meetings.
  The Fed is charged with duty of not only conducting the day-to-day 
banking for the entire Nation, but regulating the economy through the 
formulation of monetary policy. Needless to say, it wields immense 
power. In a typical month, it pumps anywhere between $1 and $4 billion 
into the economy while dangling the threat of higher interest rates 
over the American public. Even more intimidating, Mr. Speaker, is that 
half of all the banks in the country are members of the Federal Reserve 
System; all national banks must belong. All told, the Fed has holdings 
of over $300 billion--accounting for nearly 7 percent of the national 
debt.
  The entity within the Fed responsible for determining the country's 
monetary policy is the FOMC, which consists of the 7 member Board of 
Governors and 5 of the 12 district bank presidents. The FOMC meets 
every 6 weeks but, unfortunately for the general public, they meet in 
relative secrecy. I say relative because, in the wake of a FOMC 
meeting, members of the committee give speeches to business groups 
where, with a wink and a nod, they may reveal specifics of the new 
policy. Meanwhile, the ordinary American gets a convoluted synopsis of 
the policy immediately after the meeting, an edited transcript 6 weeks 
later, and the full story 30 years later. It is time to open these 
meetings up to all.
  Mr. Speaker, the Government-in-the-Sunshine Act, passed in 1976 to 
increase accountability of over 50 Federal agencies, opens closed 
meetings to private scrutiny. It requires that every portion of every 
meeting of an agency that is headed by a collegial body must be open to 
public observation. There are exceptions to the law, however, and the 
Fed has massaged the English language to the point where the Supreme 
Court overruled the lower courts and allowed one such exemption to 
apply to the FOMC meetings. Consequently, the Fed has the extraordinary 
timetable for disclosure that I mentioned.
  Mr. Speaker, I understand the sensitivity with which the Fed must 
treat monetary policy. I also understand the need for apolitical 
decisionmaking during the FOMC meetings. But when a governmental entity 
can wield a $300 billion bludgeoning tool at will in the marketplace, 
it should be held accountable. As such,

[[Page E202]]

I am reintroducing the Sunshine on the Federal Open Market Committee 
Act to ensure the FOMC is held accountable for its policies.
  I urge my colleagues to once again support and cosponsor this 
important measure.

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