[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 133 (Friday, August 1, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5183-S5185]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   Unanimous Consent Request--S. 1627

  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Madam President, I rise today to talk about an 
issue of great national importance that affects every family in 
America.
  We know the Federal Reserve has been wildly unaccountable for years 
under Jay Powell's leadership. Beyond his failed monetary policies 
leading to destroyed markets and misallocated capital, Powell has also 
overseen regulatory failures and numerous reports of unethical 
practices among its own members, all of which were overlooked and 
enabled by the Fed Board's handpicked inspector general.
  This malpractice and lack of transparency and accountability have 
seriously undermined confidence in our financial system. We can work to 
address this and start repairing the broken trust of the American 
people today by passing my bill, which is simple: Establish an 
independent, Senate-confirmed inspector general at the Federal Reserve. 
Every other government Agency has one. Surely the government's largest 
Agency should have one. It is just common sense to establish a Senate-
confirmed inspector general at the Fed.
  This inspector general would finally be independent of the Fed Board, 
who are the very people they are tasked with investigating in order to 
bring accountability to the Fed on behalf of the American people.
  This must happen now. In recent years, we have seen hundreds of 
allegations of voting members of the Federal Reserve engaging in shady 
and unethical investment trades while in possession of insider 
information about the Fed. We have seen the collapse of Silicon Valley 
Bank and others.
  We have seen a complete mismanagement of the Fed's policies while a 
culture of corruption has arrived at the Fed, and we are seeing 
billions of taxpayer dollars being spent to renovate the Federal 
Reserve headquarters in Washington, DC, all while the Fed is operating 
at a loss.
  You might wonder, as I do, why no one gets fired or is held 
accountable and why no changes have been made. It is because Jay Powell 
is Chair, and the Federal Reserve's inspector general is appointed by 
and reports to--guess who--Jay Powell and the Fed Board, period.
  It is a clear conflict of interest constructed with a perverse pay 
structure that enables issues to go unchecked and covered up for too 
long at the expense of the American people. The American people want to 
know their central bank is doing the right thing. The Fed makes 
decisions that impact their lives each and every day. For families like 
mine, growing up without much, the Fed's choices can decide if they can 
afford their mortgage or put food on the table. Families across our 
Nation deserve a Federal Reserve that they trust is working in their 
best interest.
  I would like to thank Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member 
Elizabeth Warren, Senator Lummis, and Senator Moreno for working with 
me on this important bill. I would now like to yield to my colleague 
Senator Moreno to say a few words about the legislation.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The senior Senator from Ohio.
  Mr. MORENO. I rise to draw some sunlight and daylight with what is 
actually going on at the Fed. There is a lot of commentary that you 
hear in the news and social media, sometimes in a world here of 
hyperpartisanship, the facts get lost. So I just want to support and 
emphasize how important the legislation is that Senator Scott is 
proposing.
  Back about 8 years ago, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors 
decided to renovate four buildings--four buildings that they have in 
Washington, DC.
  They came up with what I think is a very, very high budget, $2.1 
billion to renovate--not to build new--but $2.1 billion to renovate 
four buildings. Huge number; big, big number. Now back 7 or 8 years 
ago, the Federal Reserve was bringing in hundreds of billions of 
dollars in profits, as they have for decades. So you think, well, maybe 
this is a needed expenditure. I don't probably think that if we had 
some hindsight we wouldn't have embarked on that path, but they did.
  One of the four buildings is on New York Avenue. They call it the NYA 
building. They decided to take that out of consideration. So now you 
have three buildings; the budget would have been somewhere around $1.6 
billion.
  They completed the Martin building about 3 or 4 years ago for about 
25 percent over budget for the original estimate back in 2017, and here 
is where we are landing: The Eccles and 1951 building, the ones you see 
when you drive down Pennsylvania Avenue, the iconic picture of the Fed 
building, that total renovation should have cost about $1.6 billion. It 
is now together--all three buildings--it is now approaching $3.1 to 
$3.2 billion. The cost overrun is more than the entire cost to build 
CityCenter. Think about that for a second, on a renovation. The 
Chairman of the Federal Reserve--clearly one of two things is 
happening--either he is absolutely not paying attention to this 
project, or he is completely inept in managing it. Either way, what we 
need desperately is exactly what my colleague from Florida is 
suggesting--an independent body that would go in and say: What the heck 
is going on here?
  Because I don't know about the Presiding Officer, but you go around 
Florida or I go around Ohio or when my colleague goes around Michigan, 
it is a little hard to explain why an organization like the Federal 
Reserve, which is losing hundreds of billions of dollars, is spending 
billions to renovate a building when their actions are costing them 
personally thousands and thousands of dollars on their car loans, their 
home loans, their credit card, their business loans.
  There needs to be transparency. We need an independent Fed, we do; it 
is a proud history here in America. That is what has made our financial 
system strong.
  But sometimes, even in the best institutions, you end up with 
incompetent leaders. And that is the case with Jerome Powell. And that 
is why we need an independent investigator to go in there and take a 
look at what is actually going on.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida.
  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. I yield to the Senator from Wyoming Senator 
Lummis.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming.
  Ms. LUMMIS. Madam President, I rise to support commonsense 
legislation that will bring transparency and accountability to the 
Federal Reserve Board and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
  Currently, the inspector general of the Fed is appointed by the Fed 
Chair. This is highly unusual, and it means that the inspector general 
has no independence from the management of the Fed and is susceptible 
to influence. This is an unacceptable arrangement. I think we all agree 
that inspectors general cannot do their jobs without independence.
  Democrats who are objecting to this commonsense legislation today 
have made inspector general independence a priority for years, and 
rightfully so, until today. Think about that. Democrats are saying they 
are OK with being complicit in the mismanagement of the Fed that we are 
seeing today. We are witnessing unprecedented mismanagement of the Fed.
  The Fed overrun--and it was just discussed by my colleague from 
Ohio--it has overrun its budget for its building renovation by at least 
$700 million, and Chair Powell appointed the inspector general who is 
now tasked with examining this fiasco. Do we expect the Fed's inspector 
general to do anything other than immunize the Fed Chair from further 
scrutiny and say everything is on the up and up?
  I won't have any confidence in the Fed's IG and its findings until 
that person has statutory independence from the Fed Chair. The Federal 
Reserve has grown too powerful, too insulated, too comfortable, and 
they are operating in the shadows. And this is the minimum we can do to 
start getting this independent Agency some scrutiny. They don't even 
respond to FOIA requests.

[[Page S5184]]

You can't get an answer. That place is Whac-A-Mole. If you try to talk 
to the Fed Chair about something, they will put it on the Vice Chair 
for banking supervision who will put it on the presidents of the 
Federal Reserve banks who put it back on the White House who put it 
back on bank supervision who put it on the lawyer for bank supervision. 
This place is a ping-pong ball when it comes to trying to get an answer 
to a question. It has become a giant black hole of unaccountability. It 
is time for change.
  This is a commonsense change that my colleague from Florida is 
proposing. It is the right approach. I am proud to partner with Senator 
Scott to move this legislation forward, and we will keep trying.
  Thank you to the gentleman from Florida for his tireless advocacy for 
common sense.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida.
  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Well, first off, it is clear we need changes at 
the Federal Reserve to bring accountability the American people 
deserve. I have several bills to address the failures of the Fed and 
bring accountability on behalf of the American people, and today I ask 
my colleagues to support my commonsense bipartisan bill with my 
colleagues Senator Warren, Senator Moreno, Senator Lummis to establish 
a truly independent inspector general at the Federal Reserve, and I 
know my colleague from Michigan believes in the same thing.
  We have to have accountability. This bill is a great first step to 
fix the failures and restore trust in the Federal Reserve and it sure 
works on behalf of the American people. I encourage all my colleagues 
to support it.
  I ask unanimous consent as if in legislative session and 
notwithstanding rule XXII, the Banking Committee be discharged from 
further consideration of S. 1627, and the Senate proceed to its 
immediate consideration. I further ask that the bill be considered read 
a third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider be considered 
made and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Michigan.
  Mr. PETERS. Reserving the right to object.
  I rise today to oppose S. 1627, a bill to require Presidential 
appointment and Senate confirmation of the inspector general and the 
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Bureau of 
Consumer Financial Protection.
  This bill, certainly on its surface, may look like good government, 
but in reality, it would give President Trump more partisan, political 
control over the independent Federal Reserve.
  I fully support independence for our inspectors general. I worked 
with Senator Grassley to pass bipartisan legislation that was signed 
into law that strengthened the independence by requiring the President 
to provide an explanation to Congress before firing an IG to ensure 
that these watchdogs cannot be removed for political reasons.
  Well, President Trump violated the law 18 times in his first week in 
office. That is a lot of lawbreaking in a short period of time. And 
after the President fired the IGs with stellar track records of 
protecting taxpayer dollars and detecting waste, fraud, and abuse, 
basically, he then nominated partisan operatives to take their place.
  So let's take a look at some of the nominees he put in place. Trump's 
nominee for labor IG is a former Republican Congressman and the subject 
of multiple past investigations for ethical misconduct. The nominee to 
be IG for Health and Human Services is a former Republican official who 
was forced to resign due to unethical conduct.
  The nominee to be IG of the VA, the intelligence community, and the 
USDA have all served as political appointees in the very Agencies that 
they are now asked to be independent from. A very difficult task.
  These nominees are basically an insult--an insult--to the very 
concept of independent oversight.
  We need an independent inspector general conducting oversight of the 
Fed and the President's actions to gut the Consumer Financial 
Protection Bureau. What we don't need--we don't need another partisan 
IG nominee who is more interested in pleasing Donald Trump than in 
holding him accountable. President Trump has done enough to damage 
independent oversight, and it must stop here.
  I would be glad to work with my friend, the senior Senator from 
Florida. We have talked about this. I look forward to working with him 
on meaningful, truly impartial, and effective oversight that would 
truly result in a more independent watchdog.
  But passing this bill now would give President Trump more of what he 
wants while actively undermining the very mechanisms of independent 
accountability--if that is what we want, this is not the measure. And I 
look forward to working with the senior Senator from Florida to make 
that happen in the future.
  But because of that, I must object now.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. First off, I want to thank my colleague for his 
interest in making sure we have an independent inspector general. I 
don't think there is a disagreement on that. It is how do we get them 
on point and the process of getting them confirmed.
  So I actually look forward to working with my colleague. Hopefully, 
we get this done quickly. I mean, there is so many issues--as we all 
agree--at the Federal Reserve, and we have got to get somebody 
independent in there. And so we have to come up with the right process 
where it is not perceived to be political.
  So I know my colleagues from Ohio and from Wyoming would like to say 
something.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.
  Mr. MORENO. Will my colleague from Michigan yield to a couple of 
questions?
  Mr. PETERS. I have to go.
  Mr. MORENO. Got to go? OK. Well, here are the questions I was going 
to ask. He mentioned in his comments what is obvious, the President 
nominated somebody to be an inspector general. And then the Senate, 100 
Members of the Senate confirm that person, thus ensuring the 
independence.
  So if you don't like that particular nominee, you are able to come 
right here, go to the floor, and vote no.
  But this idea that this inspector general would somehow be a partisan 
person by definition is wrong because what you are doing is you are 
giving the President the ability to make a nomination and then the 
Senate the unique constitutional power to confirm that nominee.
  That is the way we have done it forever. We did it for President 
Trump. The prior Congresses did it for Biden and every other President 
before. So this idea that all of a sudden, this is now something new is 
totally nonsense.
  And here, look, part of the problem that we have today is that the 
Democrats are making historical efforts to absolutely stop President 
Trump from basic operational duties.
  We have never had a Congress--as you know, Madam President--that has 
not allowed nominees to go forward with unanimous consent. So here we 
are, on August 1, having to go through vote after vote.
  I was going to ask my colleague if he knew whom he even voted no for, 
and the answer is they don't even know whom they are voting no for. 
They just come and vote no because that is what they do. And that type 
of just total blocking for the total partisanship is not what the 
American people want.
  If you have a legitimate concern with the nominee, there is a process 
to do that. But just to universally filibuster every single nominee is 
not the way for us to move forward. The voters expect more.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming.
  Ms. LUMMIS. Madam President, I want to echo the remarks that were 
just made by my colleague from Ohio and add a couple of things. Not 
only do we as a Senate have an opportunity to prevent a nominee from 
being confirmed into office by our own vote and our own scrutiny and 
our own vetting of nominees, but we have the opportunity, in this case, 
to turn an Agency that was created for independence that has now become 
independently disassociated with the very people it is designed to help 
govern and help rein

[[Page S5185]]

them in with a Senate-confirmed inspector general.
  Now, we have proposed other ideas that have not been accepted yet, 
but that should be considered, if my colleagues on the other side of 
the aisle won't accept this one.
  One of the reasons I like the Senator from Florida's idea here is 
because it is such a strategic, narrow way to try to get some 
independent eyes at the Fed. Other ways that I had considered, and that 
we could still consider if this idea is unacceptable, is to make the 
Feds subject to FOIA. We could confirm all 12 of the regional 
presidents of the Federal Reserve Banks so we have a say in who they 
are and any number of other provisions that give the people of this 
country some oversight over that entity, the Federal Reserve, that has 
become so independent that it thumbs its nose at working for and with 
the American people.
  Look what happened in the way banks were supervised in the last 4 
years. Choke Point 2.0 brought about a government-caused failure of two 
banks. Those banks were not insolvent. The Federal Reserve and the FDIC 
pushed them into insolvency because they didn't like their customers. 
That was it. They didn't like it that banks were providing banking 
services to digital asset companies, to Melania Trump, to the children 
of the now-President. They targeted those people. They debanked those 
people. Government did that by threatening the financial institutions 
that had them as customers, saying that the safety and soundness of the 
institution was going to be subject to scrutiny if they continued to 
bank digital asset businesses, the Trump family, and others.
  That was government targeting--targeting--Americans. That was our 
government turned against our people for no good reason, and there is 
no way to get scrutiny of the Fed because they don't have an 
independent IG. They are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act. 
We don't have sufficient oversight of them. We have got to get 
oversight over the Fed.
  And I want to applaud my colleague from Florida for taking the 
initial step that every other Agency is subject to: an independent 
inspector general.
  So I urge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who are 
objecting to this measured, commonsense matter, for heaven's sake, come 
up with a solution because the Fed is an unaccountable, run-amok place 
that is not responsive to the American people.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina.