Sponsors (2)
This bill increases congressional transparency and time limits on Federal Reserve emergency programs to constrain long-term balance-sheet expansion, but it risks slowing crisis response and opening monetary actions to political interference.
Taxpayers gain clearer visibility into Fed emergency programs because the Fed must publish the program rationale, projected taxpayer losses, and quarterly updates until assets are divested.
Lawmakers, regulators, and the public get stronger oversight tools as the Fed must provide economic impact assessments and pacing details for interventions, improving accountability of monetary actions.
Taxpayers and the broader economy are protected from indefinite Fed balance-sheet expansion because emergency programs are time-limited, requiring reauthorization after a set period.
Households and markets could face greater risk in a fast-moving crisis because added reporting and a one-year authorization cap may slow or limit the Fed's ability to act quickly.
Financial institutions and taxpayers could be exposed to politicization of monetary interventions since a congressional disapproval procedure creates a pathway for delayed, restricted, or blocked Fed actions.
The Fed may face higher compliance and reporting burdens, increasing operational costs and potentially slowing program rollout and effectiveness.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires public and congressional reporting and time limits on Fed quantitative easing/tightening and emergency lending, and bars programs past one year without Congressional authorization.
Official title: Place further congressional oversight on any quantitative easing or tightening program or any emergency lending programs of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, to require reports to Congress relating to those programs, to require congressional approval of the extension of those programs, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 7, 2025 by Richard Lynn Scott · Last progress May 7, 2025
Requires the Federal Reserve Board to publicly report to Congress, the GAO, and the public whenever it starts a quantitative easing/tightening or an emergency lending program under its statutory emergency authority. Reports must be updated at least every 90 days, include detailed financial and economic projections, a timeline to end the program (no later than three years), and an assessment of risks and impacts; the Fed may not run such a program for more than one year without explicit Congressional authorization and the programs are placed under the congressional disapproval procedure. The bill increases transparency and congressional oversight of major Fed balance-sheet and emergency lending actions by mandating specific contents of reports, periodic updates until all assets are unwound, and a required sunset/authorization trigger to limit open-ended use of these tools.