Handwritten Notes Show Fed Oversight Bill Neutered On Senate Floor

Handwritten Notes Show Fed Oversight Bill Neutered On Senate Floor

www.huffingtonpost.com

Legislation to give Congress greater oversight of the Federal Reserve was severely watered down on the Senate floor Wednesday in private negotiations between two powerful Republican senators.

Thanks to an overlooked document posted on the website of Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the top ranking Republican on the Finance Committee, voters can virtually watch the water being dumped into the brew that Grassley had hoped to force the Fed to drink.

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I was unable to find any mention of this in another thread. I know the actual article seems to have been written some time ago, but the original publication date was toady so I am taking a chance this isn't old news for some...

Remember the hope we allowed ourselves to feel when we first heard of the proposed legislation to increase our power of oversight over the Federal Reserve Bank?

Try not to be too disappointed in the notes penned into the draft..., they truly demonstrate just how much concern there is to protect the Fed..., as opposed to the tax-paying citizens....

Handwritten into the margins, however, is the amendment that watered it down: "with respect to a single and specific partnership or corporation." With that qualification, the Senate severely limited the scope of the oversight.

On the Senate floor, Grassley named the top Republican on the banking committee, Richard Shelby of Alabama, as the man pouring the water.

"Although I would have preferred to include all of the Fed's emergency actions under 13(3), in consultation with Senator Shelby I agreed to limit my amendment to actions aimed at specific companies," said Grassley.

"This modified version of the amendment does not give GAO authority to look at all of that additional taxpayer risk. It is much narrower than the one I originally filed, but it is a reasonable step in the right direction, and it does not threaten monetary policy independence."

The original version of the amendment also scratches out congressional authority to oversee Fed actions as they relate to the TARP bailout or "similar authority that the Board exercises under urgent and exigent circumstances."

It is a sad tale...

www.huffingtonpost.com
(visit the link for the full news article)