(Wall Street Journal) -- By SUDEEP REDDY and MICHAEL R. CRITTENDEN --
Last-minute maneuvering in the Senate allowed the Federal Reserve to sidestep legislation that would have exposed its interest-rate decision-making to congressional auditors.
Pressure from the Obama administration led Senate lawmakers to alter a provision pushed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) that was gaining momentum despite opposition from the Treasury and the Fed. It would have largely repealed a 32-year-old law that shields Fed monetary policy from congressional auditors...
A House bill sponsored by Rep. Ron Paul (R., Texas) that passed in December contains a proposal similar to the original Sanders measure. If the Senate bill passes, it will need to be reconciled in a conference committee. That keeps the pressure on the Fed alive for the coming months.
The original Sanders measure stated that it shouldn't be "construed as interference in or dictation of monetary policy." But the Fed and administration warned that would allow auditors to interview Fed policy makers and staffers about monetary policy, thereby allowing congressional critics to pressure the Fed and undermine its independence...
Before the last-minute compromise, the Fed's foes appeared to be winning, and got a major boost when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) said he would side with Mr. Sanders.
Mr. Bernanke, meanwhile, returned to Washington Thursday afternoon after a morning speech in Chicago to continue pressing for changes to the Sanders bill. In the past few days, Mr. Bernanke has spoken to at least a half-dozen senators to argue the Fed's case that the bill would deeply damage the Fed's credibility and ability to make tough decisions about interest rates.
At least half a dozen Obama administration officials joined the blitz, including Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner—a former Fed official—and Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff. Administration aides credited Mr. Dodd with pushing back against the original amendment and developing an acceptable alternative.
New York Fed President William Dudley also advocated to scale back the scope of the auditing. He was among those arguing that ongoing reviews of the Fed's regular lending to financial institutions would stigmatize the program and cripple the Fed's role as the nation's lender of last resort.
The Senate beat back another amendment with populist tinges, defeating 61-33 a provision that would have put strict caps on the size of the nation's banks. Offered by a bloc of liberal Democrats, it would have capped at 10% the limit on the nation's total insured deposits any single bank holding company could carry. It would have also set a 6% leverage limit for banks and capped their non-deposit liabilities at 2% of U.S. gross domestic product...MORE...LINK
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Chris Moore comments:
The ugly truth about "progressives" and socialists like Bernie Sanders is that they're pathological liars...
Anyone who is not either corrupt or completely blinkered knows that Bernie Sanders and those of his ilk simply cannot be relied on in a pinch. That's why the corrupt limousine liberal establishment inserts people like him as placeholders -- they're reliably treacherous and filled with fear, loathing and hatred of the "rube" American masses...in other words, whenever it really counts, they can be relied upon to back-stab the interests of the majority on behalf of the interests of the kleptocrat oligarchy, as Sanders did in this instance, and will again in the future.
And of course, that's why the Obama administration just nominated three more of Sanders' ilk to ratchet-up ever more control over the fraudulent Fed.
How many times, year after year, decade after decade, do the American people have to be betrayed by these vipers for a few pieces of silver before they wise up? But from the corrupt Establishment's perspective, I guess that's the beauty of monolithic leftist-liberalism + State Capitalism: it keeps the People too dumbed down, indoctrinated, and dazzled by bread and circuses to see the thieves, swindlers, looters and murderers carrying out their treachery right under the public's nose.
Congratulations, Sanders. No doubt you're now due a promotion up to the next rung in the circles of Establishment treachery, you decrepit old snake, you. Enjoy your poisonous fruits while they last.
Sanders: ruminating on his Judas fate?-----
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