Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 24 To require a full audit of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal reserve banks by the Comptroller General of the United States, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 3, 2019 Mr. MASSIE (for himself, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. YOHO, Ms. FOXX of North Caro- lina, Mr. GAETZ, Mr. GUTHRIE, Mr. KING of Iowa, Mr. MULLIN, Mrs. WALORSKI, Mr. POSEY, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. CHABOT, Mr. JORDAN, Mr. MOONEY of West Virginia, Mr. DESJARLAIS, Mr. BIGGS, Mr. COLE, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. WITTMAN, Mr. BACON, Mr. GRIF- FITH, Mr. HUNTER, Mr. WALBERG, Mr. PERRY, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. HICE of Georgia, Mr. AMASH, Mr. MEADOWS, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. WEBSTER of Florida, Mr. PALAZZO, Mr. MARCHANT, Mr. PALMER, Mr. BROOKS of Alabama, Mr. BUCK, Mr. SMITH of Nebraska, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, and Mr. DAVIDSON of Ohio) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform A BILL To require a full audit of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal reserve banks by the Comptroller General of the United States, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:36 Jan 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H24.IH H24 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 24 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Reserve 2 Transparency Act of 2019’’. 3 SEC. 2. AUDIT REFORM AND TRANSPARENCY FOR THE 4 BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RE- 5 SERVE SYSTEM. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding section 714 of 7 title 31, United States Code, or any other provision of law, 8 the Comptroller General of the United States shall com- 9 plete an audit of the Board of Governors of the Federal 10 Reserve System and the Federal reserve banks under sub- 11 section (b) of such section 714 within 12 months after 12 the date of the enactment of this Act. 13 (b) REPORT.— 14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 15 the audit required pursuant to subsection (a) is com- 16 pleted, the Comptroller General— 17 (A) shall submit to Congress a report on 18 such audit; and 19 (B) shall make such report available to the 20 Speaker of the House, the majority and minor- 21 ity leaders of the House of Representatives, the 22 majority and minority leaders of the Senate, the 23 Chairman and Ranking Member of the com- 24 mittee and each subcommittee of jurisdiction in 25 the House of Representatives and the Senate, 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:36 Jan 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H24.IH H24 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 24 IH and any other Member of Congress who re- 1 quests the report. 2 (2) CONTENTS.—The report under paragraph 3 (1) shall include a detailed description of the find- 4 ings and conclusion of the Comptroller General with 5 respect to the audit that is the subject of the report, 6 together with such recommendations for legislative 7 or administrative action as the Comptroller General 8 may determine to be appropriate. 9 (c) REPEAL OF CERTAIN LIMITATIONS.—Subsection 10 (b) of section 714 of title 31, United States Code, is 11 amended by striking the second sentence. 12 (d) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 714 of title 31, 14 United States Code, is amended— 15 (A) in subsection (d)(3), by striking ‘‘or 16 (f)’’ each place such term appears; 17 (B) in subsection (e), by striking ‘‘the 18 third undesignated paragraph of section 13’’ 19 and inserting ‘‘section 13(3)’’; and 20 (C) by striking subsection (f). 21 (2) FEDERAL RESERVE ACT.—Subsection (s) 22 (relating to ‘‘Federal Reserve Transparency and Re- 23 lease of Information’’) of section 11 of the Federal 24 Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 248) is amended— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:36 Jan 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H24.IH H24 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 24 IH (A) in paragraph (4)(A), by striking ‘‘has 1 the same meaning as in section 714(f)(1)(A) of 2 title 31, United States Code’’ and inserting 3 ‘‘means a program or facility, including any 4 special purpose vehicle or other entity estab- 5 lished by or on behalf of the Board of Gov- 6 ernors of the Federal Reserve System or a Fed- 7 eral reserve bank, authorized by the Board of 8 Governors under section 13(3), that is not sub- 9 ject to audit under section 714(e) of title 31, 10 United States Code’’; 11 (B) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘or in 12 section 714(f)(3)(C) of title 31, United States 13 Code, the information described in paragraph 14 (1) and information concerning the transactions 15 described in section 714(f) of such title,’’ and 16 inserting ‘‘the information described in para- 17 graph (1)’’; and 18 (C) in paragraph (7), by striking ‘‘and sec- 19 tion 13(3)(C), section 714(f)(3)(C) of title 31, 20 United States Code, and’’ and inserting ‘‘, sec- 21 tion 13(3)(C), and’’. 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:36 Jan 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H24.IH H24 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS