House Passes Lucas Bill to Increase Transparency at Fed

Today, the House passed H.R. 4753, the Federal Reserve Supervision Testimony Clarification Act, sponsored by Congressman Frank Lucas (OK-03). This bill mandates that in the absence of a Vice Chair of Supervision at the Federal Reserve, someone from the Federal Reserve Board is designated to appear before Congress to testify on supervisory issues. 

“Dodd-Frank established the Vice Chair for Supervision position to oversee those efforts, but the first confirmed appointee to that position took office only last year, a full seven years since Dodd-Frank,” said Rep. Frank Lucas.  “During that time, Congress received minimal testimony on regulatory issues from the Fed. Typically, other officials who don’t oversee regulatory efforts gave testimony in this regard. But the key point is Dodd-Frank requires only the Vice Chair for Supervision to give that testimony. While we are grateful that other Fed officials decided to speak to Congress on regulatory issues, they didn’t have to under the law.”

Despite the simplicity, this bill is about the oversight authority of Congress. Congress gave the Federal Reserve much greater regulatory authority under Dodd-Frank, so it is vitally important that Congress hears from it on regulatory developments.  Not only that, hearing from officials that are very knowledgeable on issues in their areas, particularly when these regulations have a large effect on capital and money markets, allows more transparency in government agencies.