According to its short title, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009 (H.R. 1207) amends Title 31 of the United States Code "to reform the manner in which the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is audited by the Comptroller General of the United States and the manner in which such audits are reported". It strikes exceptions to the audit protocol in 31 U.S.C. § 714 for the Federal Reserve System, the central bank of the United States, and replaces an indefinite deadline with a deadline of December 2010. It also ensures the audit results are available to Congress. The audit would include the Fed's "discount window", its funding facilities, its open market operations, and its agreements with foreign bankers.

Proponents state that the Fed has never been audited by Congress since the Fed's creation in 1913. The Federal Reserve states that "the financial statements of the Federal Reserve Banks and the Board of Governors are audited annually by an independent outside auditor." Paul says that the present audit process exempts the Fed's "most crucial activities"

I mean really, if you don't like the fed that's fine. But what would make anyone think giving politicians (who know next to nothing about economics in general, let alone monetary policy) a say in the matter would help things?

But short of some kind of disaster, best to leave it to the technocrats.

I'm an economic dunce, but I don't see how being able to audit the Fed actually gives congress control over monetary policy. Maybe I don't know what the word audit means? It doesn't mean they get to decide anything, does it?

In a conservative scenario where they can't take any action on the audit, they'd still have the ability to present the results of said audit to the public in whatever light they wish, giving them immense leverage on the Fed.

Since when does the Fed base their policy on what the public thinks?

I dunno, seems like a poor excuse to not have audits to me.

My only concern would be panic that might ensue from the information in the audits, either because the data is misinterpreted by pols or the public, or if it is understood all too well.

Also, an uneducated public that can't balance their checkbooks for themselves would be nothing new.

isn't this part of living in an open society?

Not to sound too cooky, but the last person who really stood up to the Federal Reserve was JFK...and we all know how that ended up.

Yeah. In general, I'm all for openness and let the chips fall where they may. And honestly, I'm not against this idea (having spent a whole five minutes thinking about it so far). That was just the first concern that popped into my mind. It could be important, or not.