Reversal Shock? Obama administration now supports Fed audit

[bobbyw24]

Reverses opinion after move gets bipartisan support in the Senate

updated 7:33 p.m. ET, Thurs., May 6, 2010

WASHINGTON - Following last-minute adjustments, a proposal to audit the Federal Reserve that the Obama administration once opposed was on the verge of passing the Senate as it attracted broad support from conservatives and liberals alike.

The administration withdrew its objections to the proposal Thursday, saying it was satisfied that the audit would not interfere with the Fed's authority to set monetary policy.

The one-time audit would focus on the Fed's emergency lending to financial institutions in the months leading up to and after the 2008 financial crisis. At its peak, at the end of 2008, the Fed's lending totaled $1.16 trillion.

Story continues below ↓

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37003798/ns/business-stocks_and_economy/

[Working Poor]

BS

[american.swan]

BS

I needed a laugh. Perfect. It's just one of those days where something like this makes me cry. So funny.

[bobbyw24]

BS

Right:

The amendment limits the audit only to emergency lending, the GAO would be barred from looking at the Fed's foreign central bank swaps and its purchasing of mortgage debt from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which is considered part of open market operations and not emergency lending.

[MsDoodahs]

So the administration supports a FAKE fed audit because they want to get the heat off the fed real real bad.

lol...

[Cowlesy]

FYI this was after Bernie Sanders gutted the bill.

[Bern]

The audit they support is a gutted, toothless shell of what Ron Paul proposed.

[bobbyw24]

The audit they support is a gutted, toothless shell of what Ron Paul proposed.

Right:

The amendment limits the audit only to emergency lending, the GAO would be barred from looking at the Fed's foreign central bank swaps and its purchasing of mortgage debt from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which is considered part of open market operations and not emergency lending.

[low preference guy]

Audit-the-Fed: What’s Next for the Central Bank?
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2010/05/07/audit-the-fed-whats-next-for-the-central-bank/


Sen. David Vitter (R., La.), a fierce Fed critic who has long backed the audit-the-Fed movement, wants a side-by-vote on the pre-modified bill that calls for more oversight of the central bank. If he succeeds, that vote would come Tuesday at the earliest.


That’s the Senate. The House already passed a stringent audit-the-Fed measure — authored by Rep. Ron Paul (R., Texas), the leading Fed foe in Congress — as part of its financial regulation bill in December. That makes it yet another provision that would need to be reconciled with a Senate bill when the House and Senate move to a conference committee (assuming the full Senate passes a financial regulation overhaul). Anything can happen behind closed doors in a conference committee. But the scaled-back version of the audit-the-Fed provision in the Senate makes it easier for the Fed and Obama administration to get their way.

Bobby, feel free to post this article.

[bobbyw24]

"In order to allay some of the White House's and the Fed's concerns, Sanders has agreed to limit the scope of what the Government Accountability Office would be allowed to audit--but his plan will still require thorough review of all the Fed's emergency lending, beginning December 1, 2007."

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/05/sanders-fed-audit-amendment-likely-to-prevail.php

[Ninja Homer]

Of course they support it now, they got exactly what they wanted... this is no reversal.

[Ninja Homer]

YouTube - Sanders Amendment Update (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7II2diHymv4)

[bobbyw24]

youtube - sanders amendment update (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ii2dihymv4)

bump