Gold Reserve Transparency Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2559 To provide for the first true audit of gold owned by the United States in more than 65 years, and subsequent audits every 5 years. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 7, 2019 Mr. MOONEY of West Virginia introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services A BILL To provide for the first true audit of gold owned by the United States in more than 65 years, and subsequent audits every 5 years. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Gold Reserve Trans- 4 parency Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. ASSAY, INVENTORY, AND AUDIT OF GOLD RE- 6 SERVES. 7 (a) GAO ASSAY, INVENTORY, AND AUDIT.—The 8 Comptroller General of the United States shall conduct 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:59 May 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 \\ALPHA3\E\BILLS\H2559.IH H2559 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 2559 IH and complete, not later than nine months after the date 1 of enactment of this Act, and every 5 years thereafter— 2 (1) a full assay, inventory, and audit of all gold 3 reserves, including any gold in ‘‘deep storage’’, of 4 the United States at the place or places where such 5 reserves are kept; 6 (2) an analysis of the sufficiency of the meas- 7 ures taken to ensure the physical security of such re- 8 serves; 9 (3) a full accounting of any and all encum- 10 brances, including those due to lease, swap, or simi- 11 lar transactions presently in existence or entered 12 into at any time during the past 15 years with re- 13 spect to the gold reserves; 14 (4) a full accounting of any and all sales, pur- 15 chases, disbursements, or receipts at any time dur- 16 ing the past 15 years—whether directly or indirectly 17 undertaken—with respect to the gold reserves, in- 18 cluding the specific terms and parties involved in 19 such transactions; and 20 (5) a full accounting of all gold in which the 21 U.S. Government (including the Board of Governors 22 of the Federal Reserve System or any other Federal 23 agency) presently has a direct or indirect interest, 24 including gold that may be held by third parties, in- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:59 May 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 \\ALPHA3\E\BILLS\H2559.IH H2559 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 2559 IH cluding, for example, the Bank for International Set- 1 tlements, the International Monetary Fund, the Ex- 2 change Stabilization Fund, any foreign central bank, 3 or any other party, public or private. 4 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 12 months after the 5 date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 6 shall issue a report to the Congress containing all results, 7 findings, and determinations made in carrying out the 8 assay, inventory, audit, analysis, and accounting required 9 under subsection (a), and promptly make such report (to- 10 gether with copies of all source materials relied upon) 11 available to the public on the internet. No redactions shall 12 be permitted except with respect to underlying details con- 13 tained in the analysis completed under subsection (a)(2) 14 above dealing only with physical security. 15 (c) GAO ACCESS.—For purposes of carrying out this 16 Act, the Comptroller General shall have full access (en- 17 forceable by subpoena authority) to any depository or 18 other public or private facility where such reserves are 19 kept or where any records are kept that are necessary to 20 carry out this Act. 21 (d) INFORMATION MADE AVAILABLE BY TREAS- 22 URY.—The Secretary of the Treasury (and all other Fed- 23 eral agencies, including the Board of Governors of the 24 Federal Reserve System) shall make available, without any 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:59 May 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 \\ALPHA3\E\BILLS\H2559.IH H2559 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 2559 IH redactions, to the Comptroller General, for purposes of 1 carrying out this Act, all books, accounts, records, reports, 2 files, correspondence, memoranda, papers, or any other 3 document, tape, or written, audio, or digital record per- 4 taining to the assay, inventory, audit, analysis, and ac- 5 counting required under subsection (a), as determined by 6 the Comptroller General. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:59 May 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 \\ALPHA3\E\BILLS\H2559.IH H2559 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS