Republican Senator Rick Scott and Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren surprisingly joined forces for a bipartisan push for an Independent Inspector General at the Federal Reserve.
Senators Rick Scott and Elizabeth Warren introduced legislation to require a presidentially-appointed and Senate-confirmed Inspector General (IG) to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Currently, the IG is appointed by, and reports directly to, the Federal Reserve and CFPB, which poses serious conflicts of interest.
The Senators also sent a letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell outlining the need for an independent Inspector General and structural changes to the position as the former Fed Board-appointed Inspector General Mark Bialek failed to hold Federal Reserve employees accountable amid ethics concerns, insider trading, and bank failures.
“The Federal Reserve has been wildly unaccountable for years under Jay Powell’s leadership, who has overseen regulatory failures, allegations of insider trading, and unethical practices at the Fed that have been overlooked and enabled by the Board’s hand-picked Inspector General,” said Republican Senator Rick Scott, a Florida conservative. “The Federal Reserve is the world’s largest and most powerful central bank, yet the current Inspector General directly reports to the Fed’s Board, presenting a clear conflict of interest with a perverse pay structure that enables issues to go unchecked for too long at the expense of the American people. That’s insane. We need significant changes at the Federal Reserve to bring the transparency and accountability that the American people deserve. Our bill will take a huge step forward in fixing the Federal Reserve by implementing a truly independent, Senate-confirmed IG at the Fed that will work on behalf of the American people, not Jay Powell.”
“The Fed makes critical decisions that impact our entire economy—and bank collapses, regulatory failures, and the culture of corruption at the Fed have underscored the urgent need for a truly independent Inspector General to hold Fed officials accountable,” said Senator Elizabeth Warren, a progressive Democrat. “I’m glad to partner with Senator Scott on this bipartisan bill to deliver oversight the American people deserve.”
Read the bill online and the full letter here:
RickScottElizabethWarren_letterFedReserveIG
Ms. Warren, I don’t agree with you on many things, but I will firmly stand with you on the need for increased accountability and transparency at the Fed. The level of corruption and unchecked power within the agency has long fuelled growing income inequality and inflation. I am sickened by the trillions they provide their past and future employers on Wall Street at the expense of American taxpayers, many of whom are now working two to three jobs. The banks were supposed to reduce risk after the great recession bailout, but seem to only have become more emboldened to take on even greater risk. The Fed continues to quietly pay them trillions. I truly believe this is why most of my generation has seen the American dream die. 30 trillion and growing is unacceptable. Benefiting from exploiting investor psychology with constant vague wording to the press, using privileged insider knowledge to benefit from stock trades and selling us out to our adversaries by providing them with advanced privileged knowledge is going to far. They have literally sold us all out. May I ask what exactly congress is doing to bring this information to the public and hold this rogue, command economy god accountable?