U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-9) and members of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology continued their efforts today to shine a brighter light on the actions of the Federal Reserve.   

“More transparency at the Federal Reserve is essential, particularly in light of their recent monetary policy actions and engagement in the ongoing Eurozone crisis,” Luetkemeyer said.  “I look forward to working with Chairman Ron Paul and the other members of the subcommittee to examine the Federal Reserve and other agencies that directly or indirectly affect our nation’s monetary policy.”  

The hearing, entitled “Audit the Fed: Dodd-Frank, QE3, and Fed Transparency,” focused on testimony from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) on its procedural audit and report, which was issued in July, of the Federal Reserve’s emergency lending facilities.  The hearing also examined the history of Federal Reserve audit legislation and the adequacy of existing Fed audit and data disclosure requirements.

Luetkemeyer is a cosponsor of the Federal Reserve Transparency Act, which calls for a full and complete audit of the Federal Reserve by GAO.  Currently, GAO lacks the authority to audit the following items:

• Transactions for or with a foreign central bank, government of a foreign country, or non-private international financing organization;
• Deliberations, decisions, or actions on monetary policy matters, including discount window operations, reserves of member banks, securities credit, interest on deposits, and open market operations;
• Transactions made under the direction of the Federal Open Market Committee; or
• Discussions or communications among or between members of the Board and officers and employees of the Federal Reserve System related to the first three bullets. 

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