Saturday, October 19, 2013

Bill That Would Audit The Federal Reserve Passes House

By Cornelius Nunev


A small, but increasing, number of people are not thrilled with the workings or indeed existence of the Federal reserve. The nation's central bank does, after all, set monetary policy and determine the costs of offering credit for banks. However, a bill that would allow Congress to audit the Federal reserve has just passed the House of Representatives.

More support for federal reserve audit

The Federal reserve controls how much a dollar is worth and the money it takes for a bank it lend mortgages, installment loans and more. It was produced in 1913 and affects daily life regularly with its control of lending and inflation. Many people do not realize how much it impacts their life every single day.

As an "independent government bureau," the Fed is still part of the government as a private company. Many people think it should be required to open its books to the public since there is not a lot of information 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 satisfied with bill

More government agencies might have to start showing their finances to the public soon since the House of Representatives just passed the bill 327 to 98. The bill would require the Federal reserve to open its books specifically. The Federal reserve has been criticized by Representative Ron Paul of Texas who could have been anticipated to do it since he has not supported the law for some time now.

The agency already has an internal audit performed annually, according to CNN. One of the most recent was by Deloitte and Touche, one of the "Big Four" auditing firms. The agency also publishes its balance sheet online every week. However, the point is more to get urgent access to Federal reserve policy decisions, specifically monetary policy decisions. Records of those meetings, where the agency decides the inflation rate for American currency, take a bit longer to come out. It takes three weeks for meeting minutes to be released. The transcripts take five years.

Risk of federal manipulation

According to Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, there is no issue with having more transparency in the fed, but he would not be okay with a law that demands an audit, according to Bloomberg. The issue is that it could cause political corruption and manipulation if the Federal reserve is controlled by Congress.

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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