Warren, Scott (FL) Lead Push for Independent Inspector General at the Federal Reserve
Text of Bill (PDF) | Text of Letter (PDF)
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) introduced bipartisan 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). Under current law, the IG is charged with overseeing and holding accountable the very same officials at the Federal Reserve who are responsible for appointing him, which poses serious conflicts of interest. The Senators also sent a letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell about the upcoming choice of a new Fed IG. The former Fed Board-appointed Inspector General Mark Bialek resigned earlier this year. He failed to hold Federal Reserve employees accountable amid ethics concerns, regulatory failures, and bank collapses. The letter to Chair Powell recommended that the Fed put in place a highly qualified and truly independent IG.
Ranking Member Warren said, “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. I’m glad to partner with Senator Scott on this bipartisan bill to deliver oversight the American people deserve.”
Senator Scott said, “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. 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.”
Read the bill HERE and the full letter HERE.
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