What Might Be Hidden in the Fed’s Books?

On Tuesday, the Senate voted in a landslide to approve the Audit the Fed amendment to Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) financial regulatory reform proposal. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the author of the amendment, has directed the Government Accountability Office to publish a report on the Fed’s books by Dec. 1, More…

Amendment Allows Small Banks to Choose Their Regulator

Earlier today, the Senate also approved — by an overwhelming 90 to 9 margin — a bipartisan amendment allowing the Federal Reserve to continue to supervise state-chartered banks and banks with less than $50 billion in assets. Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) financial regulatory reform bill initially transferred supervisory authority to More…

Senate Votes to Study, Not Wind Down, Fannie and Freddie

The Senate just voted on two amendments tackling the loss-taking government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which stabilize the mortgage market at a $7 billion-per-month cost.

Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz), Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and Judd Gregg’s (R-N.H.) amendment to end Fannie and Freddie’s governmental conservatorships within three years and More…

Audit the Fed Passes in 96-0 Bipartisan Landslide

Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) Audit the Fed amendment to Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) financial regulatory reform bill just passed the Senate in a bipartisan landslide, 96-0 — with every Senator present on board with the populist amendment. The Sanders amendment requires the Government Accountability Office to audit most of the More…

Fed’s Kocherlakota Argues for Bank Taxes Related to Risk

Speaking at the Economic Club of Minnesota today, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Narayana Kocherlakota argued for taxing banks in proportion to their risk — a measure not currently in Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) financial regulatory reform proposal:

Break Up the Banks Fails, Audit the Fed Waits

Last night, after debating Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) Audit the Fed amendment, the Senate did not end up voting on it. Why? Two reasons. First of all, Sanders and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), the architect of the reform bill, agreed to tweak the amendment to make it weaker — a More…

How Audit the Fed Won the PR War

Senators are currently debating Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) Audit the Fed amendment to Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) financial regulatory reform bill. (Watch the floor debate here.) Just a few moments ago, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kans.) took to the floor to accuse executive-branch opponents of the measure of “exaggerating” the More…

Shelby Amendment Gutting Consumer Protection From FinReg Bill Fails

The much-derided amendment by Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) to gut the consumer financial protections from Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) financial regulatory reform just failed. Sens. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) both voted against the amendment. The final vote was 38 yeas, and 61 nos.

Next vote up: Sen. More…

Senators Get Feisty Over Shelby Amendment to FinReg’s CFPA

Forget auditing the Fed or breaking up the banks. Before senators address those proposed amendments to Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) financial regulatory reform bill, they need to decide whether to adopt Sen. Richard Shelby’s (R-Ala.) amendment on consumer protection.

It has been a sticking point for months. Republicans want to More…

Bernanke Letter Argues Against Audit the Fed

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has sent a letter to Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), the head of the Banking Committee and the architect of the financial regulatory reform proposal currently before Congress, urging him not to adopt an amendment by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to open the Fed’s books to More…