Toomey Calls for Reforming the Regional Federal Reserve Banks
Washington, D.C. – In case you missed it, U.S. Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) today said that Congress needs to seriously consider reforming or eliminating the regional Federal Reserve (Fed) banks.
In an interview with David Westin on Bloomberg TV, Senator Toomey said the regional Fed banks have been completely unaccountable to Congress and the American people, prompting the need for change.
Key Excerpts
“When [the regional Fed banks] were initially created, they actually kind of managed monetary policy in their respective regions. That ended in the 1930s. A long time ago, the monetary policy of America was consolidated in a single central bank . . . it does raise the question, what purpose do these regional banks serve anymore?”
“In the absence of having a compelling monetary policy purpose, they seem to be wandering onto other fields that they like to play on but which have nothing to do with the Fed’s mission and its purpose. Things like climate change, things like social justice.”
“The Minneapolis Fed has even gone so far as to, the President of the Minneapolis Fed, is aggressively campaigning for an amendment to Minnesota’s constitution regarding primary and secondary education. And the Minneapolis Fed board has endorsed it."
"This has nothing to do with their mission. And by the way—they’re not doing so great on their day job.”
“I do think we should be having a serious conversation about whether they should, for instance, be subject to FOIA.”
“Let’s be clear. The money they spend on their own operation comes out of the taxpayers’ pocket . . . so it’s really pretty outrageous, I think, for them to say the public has no right to know, and Congress has no right to know, about the internal operations and how [they] spend [their] money and what [they’re] doing. That’s a pretty objectionable position that they seem to be taking. So I think it’s time for Congress to rethink their role.”
To watch Ranking Member Toomey’s full interview with Bloomberg TV, click here.
Background
· On March 29, 2021, Ranking Member Toomey opened an investigation into the recent shift by regional banks of the Federal Reserve System toward publishing politically-charged research on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) topics like global warming and racial justice.
o In a letter to the San Francisco Fed, Senator Toomey requested a briefing and documents no later than April 9, 2021.
· On May 24, 2021, Ranking Member Toomey expanded this investigation, requesting briefings and documents from the Minneapolis, Boston and Atlanta regional Fed banks by June 7, 2021 pertaining to their recent, intense interest in racial justice activism.
· In June 2021, Ranking Member Toomey blasted the San Francisco, Minneapolis, Atlanta, and Boston Federal Reserve Banks for refusing to comply with congressional oversight requests for documents pertaining to the banks’ mission creep.
· Last week, Ranking Member Toomey sent a letter to the Kansas City Fed requesting information pertaining to its approval of an application for a Fed master account from an obscure financial technology (fintech) company called Reserve Trust.
o Sarah Bloom Raskin—President Biden’s nominee for Vice Chair for Supervision at the Fed—sat on the Board of the nonbank fintech company. Shortly after the company’s master account application was denied, Raskin called the Kansas City Fed to lobby on behalf of the company’s application. Less than one year later, the Kansas City Fed reversed its decision and approved the fintech’s application for a master account.
o The Kansas City Fed has refused to turn over information regarding its decision to approve the fintech company’s application.
· To date, not one of the five regional Fed banks—San Francisco, Minneapolis, Boston, Atlanta, or Kansas City—has provided the Ranking Member with any of the requested documents, choosing instead to conceal these documents from both Congress and the American people.
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