Bill That Would Audit The Federal Reserve Passes House


By Cornelius Nunev


The House of Representatives has just passed a bill that would authorize the federal government to audit the Fed. The bill may not go anywhere, but an increasing number of individuals want more transparency in how the nation's central bank conducts its affairs.

Federal reserve to face enormous audit

Everybody in the country, and most throughout the world, are affected by the Fed and has been since 1913 when it was produced. When you get installment loans, mortgages and borrow other cash, the federal reserve controls that. The costs of lending cash are controlled. It also controls how much a dollar is worth adjusting inflation depending on the things it does.

As an "independent government agency," the Federal reserve is still part of the government as a private business. A lot of people think it should be required to open its books to the public since there is not a ton of data made available to the public about its dealings. Citizens and legislators all support a bill that would require an audit of the Federal reserve.

House of Representatives decision

The Federal reserve has been criticized by Ron Paul of Texas for some time, which is why he sponsored the bill which approved 327 to 98 in the House of Representatives. ABC points out that the House is ready for additional government agencies to show their finances.

The basic idea of the bill would allow more access to Fed 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 each year. The idea of the bill is for more urgent access though.

An enormous issue according to Bernanke

Congress might end up controlling the Federal reserve if the new Audit the Fed law is passed; Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is worried about, according to Bloomberg. This could cause a ton of corruption and manipulation of the Fed, which is a massive concern for Bernanke. He has no issue with more transparency in finances though.

Representative Barney Frank does not think the law will go anywhere, according to Bloomberg, and it will probably not become the law.




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