By Zach C. Cohen, Bloomberg, Mar. 30, 2023
Senate’s Push for Fed Transparency Gains Support After Bank Failures
Support is growing in Congress for imposing greater transparency requirements on the Federal Reserve as the central bank faces increasing scrutiny for its response to recent bank failures.
Senators Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina and Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, plan to introduce legislation that would subject the Fed to the Freedom of Information Act. A copy of the bill was obtained by Bloomberg News.
“Because of the SVB failure, more people have seen the direct consequences of regulators who take their eye off the ball, and work for the industry instead of on behalf of the public,” Warren said in a brief interview on Capitol Hill.
The Fed’s 12 regional branches are currently exempt from public records requests because they are quasi-private. The proposal would remove that barrier by having them considered federal agencies for the purposes of a FOIA request from a member of Congress
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