Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2015--Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

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Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I do not support Senator Paul's bill to audit the Federal Reserve.

In 2010, I supported an amendment to the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation included in the final law which required an audit of the Federal Reserve's actions during the financial crisis. That report was released in 2011 and found no significant problems with the Fed's activities.

Dodd-Frank not only authorized the 2011 audit, it also expanded the scope for future GAO audits which any Member of Congress can request. Also, the Fed includes an independent audit of its financial statements within its annual report to Congress.

The Federal Reserve has taken independent actions in recent years to be more transparent about its operations. Since 2009, the Fed has publicly released its economic projections, and since 2011, the chairman has held quarterly press conferences following Federal Open Market Committee meetings. Two recent studies found the Fed to be one of the most transparent central banks in the world.

Transparency and openness in government is essential to a healthy democracy, but by requiring more audits and more disclosures, we risk politicizing a nonpartisan institution that plays a uniquely significant role in the global economy.

Fed Chairman Janet Yellen recently wrote that a similar bill that passed the House of Representatives ``would politicize monetary policy and bring short-term political pressures in the deliberations of the FOMC by putting into place real-time second guessing of policy decisions. . . . The provision is based on a false premise--that the Fed is not subject to an audit.''.

Since there are already many means for audits, disclosure, and transparency at our disposal, I do not support Senator Paul's bill.

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