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July 08, 2014

House committee eyes Fed reform

July 9, 2014 – The House Financial Services Committee tomorrow will consider legislation from Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., that would require the Federal Reserve to do cost-benefit analyses for any new rules.

The reform bill – H.R. 5018, "The Federal Reserve Accountability and Transparency Act" – would also require the Fed to be more accountable to Congress regarding regulatory policy and transparency about bank stress tests and international financial regulatory negotiations conducted by the Fed, the Treasury Department and the FDIC. Also, the bill would require the Fed to disclose high-ranking employees' salaries and hold them to the same ethics requirements as other federal financial regulators.

The bill is cosponsored by Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., who is the chairman of the Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government-Sponsored Enterprises.

The hearing – titled "Legislation to Reform the Federal Reserve on Its 100-Year Anniversary" – is scheduled for 10 a.m. tomorrow. It will also feature testimony from economics professors from Stanford University and MIT, as well as representatives of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and the Cato Institute.