Vitter, Warren Introduce Fed Accountability Act

Press Release

U.S. Senators David Vitter (R-La.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), members of the Senate Banking Committee, today introduced the Fed Accountability Act, legislation to improve the Federal Reserve's decision-making process by increasing independence of individual Governors and bringing transparency to votes on enforcement actions over $1 million. The two Senators are also working on legislation to further halt megabank bailouts during a crisis. Vitter has long championed reforms to end the too big to fail mentality and eliminate bailouts for the megabanks.

"The Fed needs to be independent, transparent and accountable. But under its current structure, the Board of Governors doesn't act with complete autonomy and succumbs to groupthink. If Board members can think for themselves and are held accountable, taxpayers are less likely to be asked to bail out the megabanks," Vitter said. "We recently made huge progress to improve the Federal Reserve by requiring that they have at least one member with Community banking experience. This bill will also help fix the too big to fail groupthink we've seen at the Fed."

"The Fed's Board of Governors is our first line of defense against another financial crisis. Members of the Board should have the resources they need to make their own decisions on important matters, and their decisions on major enforcement matters should be made public. By bringing greater transparency and accountability to the Fed, the bill will improve the Fed's oversight of our biggest financial institutions," Warren said.

Source