This legislation, known as the "Rein in the Federal Reserve Act," significantly enhances congressional oversight of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy tools, specifically its quantitative easing or tightening programs and emergency lending initiatives . Upon initiating any such program, the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors must submit a comprehensive report to Congress and make it publicly available, detailing the program's rationale, estimated financial impacts, and an economic assessment. These reports must be updated every 90 days until the program concludes and all associated assets are removed from the Fed's balance sheet, ensuring continuous transparency. The required reports must include projections for potential mark-to-market losses, impacts on the money supply and public debt, and risks to taxpayers, alongside a specific timeline for ending the program within three years to prevent it from becoming a permanent operation. Crucially, the bill stipulates that the Federal Reserve cannot continue any of these programs for longer than one year without explicit authorization from Congress . Moreover, these programs are made subject to existing procedures for congressional disapproval , granting Congress a direct mechanism to terminate them.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
Finance and Financial Sector
Rein in the Federal Reserve Act
USA119th CongressS-1646| Senate
| Updated: 5/7/2025
This legislation, known as the "Rein in the Federal Reserve Act," significantly enhances congressional oversight of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy tools, specifically its quantitative easing or tightening programs and emergency lending initiatives . Upon initiating any such program, the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors must submit a comprehensive report to Congress and make it publicly available, detailing the program's rationale, estimated financial impacts, and an economic assessment. These reports must be updated every 90 days until the program concludes and all associated assets are removed from the Fed's balance sheet, ensuring continuous transparency. The required reports must include projections for potential mark-to-market losses, impacts on the money supply and public debt, and risks to taxpayers, alongside a specific timeline for ending the program within three years to prevent it from becoming a permanent operation. Crucially, the bill stipulates that the Federal Reserve cannot continue any of these programs for longer than one year without explicit authorization from Congress . Moreover, these programs are made subject to existing procedures for congressional disapproval , granting Congress a direct mechanism to terminate them.