[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 256-257]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   FEDERAL RESERVE TRANSPARENCY BILL

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, for years I have supported a responsible 
audit of the Federal Reserve System. The American people deserve an 
audit of one of the most vital parts of our government. In the wake of 
the financial crisis that crippled our Nation's economy, I came to more 
fully understand how important it is that any audit respects the 
independence of the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve is crucial to 
our economy recovering after the disastrous debacle on Wall Street. 
There were emergency provisions to address the catastrophes that only 
the Federal Reserve could respond to. They did it faster than the 
Congress could do it. Had the Federal Reserve not stepped in, the 
consequences of the great recession would have been tremendously worse. 
It would have been worse than the Great Depression. This Federal 
Reserve could act quickly to safeguard the national economy because of 
its independence, and it did just that.
  One of the lessons we learned from the great recession is that the 
Federal Reserve should not be hamstrung. It is a cornerstone of our 
global economy. We must maintain a Federal Reserve that is transparent, 
but we must also respect the independence of the Federal Reserve in 
order to maintain the well-being of the global economy, and that is why 
we included an amendment

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to responsibly audit the Federal Reserve while respecting its 
independence. The amendment passed unanimously. The bill which the 
Senate will vote on tomorrow, sponsored by the junior Senator from 
Kentucky, will critically undermine this delicate balance.
  Wall Street reform ensured that the Government Accountability Office 
could audit the Federal Reserve, and in accordance with the law, the 
Government Accountability Office has carried out those audits. In the 
year after the passage of Dodd-Frank, the Federal Reserve was audited 
29 times. Since that time, the Federal Reserve has been audited 102 
times.
  My colleagues don't have to take my word for it. The 102 audits of 
the Federal Reserve are available to everyone. All they have to do is 
look at the Federal Reserve Website. Proponents of this bill know that. 
Their calls for audits have been answered.
  So let's be clear. This bill is not about auditing the Federal 
Reserve. It is not about transparency or keeping the books for the Fed. 
The oversight already exists. This bill is about giving tea party 
Republicans and their billionaire donors the ability to control the 
economy of the United States. It is an attack on policies that are 
designed to stabilize the U.S. economy and help the middle class bounce 
back.
  Political parties should not and cannot run monetary policy at the 
Federal Reserve. That would be disastrous. I am disappointed the Senate 
will waste its time on another misguided partisan attack such as this 
one. The bill is an attack on the Federal Reserve mandate to create 
full employment. These attacks are partisan in nature, and it is 
unconscionable to think that the Republican leader will begin this year 
attacking policies that benefit the middle class.
  Some Republicans agree. Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Foreign 
Relations Committee and a member of the Banking, Housing, and Urban 
Affairs Committee, said this of the audit the Fed bill:

       It's obvious to me that the Audit the Fed effort is to not 
     address auditing the Fed because the Fed is audited. . . . to 
     me it's an attempt to allow Congress to be able to put 
     pressure on Fed members relative to monetary policy. And I 
     would just advocate that that would not be a particularly 
     good idea and it would cause us to put off tough decisions 
     for the future, like we currently are doing with budgetary 
     matters.

  I agree with Senator Corker. Injecting politics into the Federal 
Reserve is a bad idea.
  This bill is a sham. We should dispense with it quickly, and we 
should do it--if there is any word quicker than quick, let's do it that 
way. I will vote against the bill, and I encourage my colleagues to do 
the same.
  Will the Chair announce the business of the day?

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