On Wednesday, Senator Rick Scott and Senator Elizabeth Warren introduced bipartisan legislation to require a presidentially-appointed and Senate-confirmed inspector general to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. Following this month’s shocking failures of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank, and the Federal Reserve’s gross mismanagement and lack of oversight to prevent the situation, this bill will bring the serious changes and accountability at the Federal Reserve that is clearly overdue and necessary to protect American families and workers.
Senator Scott previewed this legislation in an op-ed for Fox News and a letter Monday to Jerome Powell, Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, calling out the Fed’s gross mismanagement and lack of oversight of these banks and demanding significant reforms.
Senator Rick Scott said, “After the Federal Reserve’s failure to properly identify and prevent the shocking failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, it’s clear we can’t wait any longer for big change at the Fed. It’s outrageous that the Federal Reserve, the world’s largest and most powerful central bank, does not have a truly independent inspector general to investigate it – an independent authority to fight for the transparency and accountability our citizens need. Our legislation fixes that by establishing a presidentially-appointed, Senate-confirmed inspector general at the Fed, like every other major government agency. Consumers and American families must not bear the brunt of the failures of gross mismanagement and greed at their banks or the incompetence and misdeeds of the government regulators who are there to protect them. I want to thank Senator Warren for joining me on this good bill. This is commonsense and should have the bipartisan support of our colleagues so that it can quickly pass and become law.”
Senator Elizabeth Warren said, “The recent bank collapses and regulatory failures by the Fed have underscored the urgent need for a truly independent Inspector General to hold Fed officials accountable for any lapses or wrongdoing. Last year, during the largest ethics scandal in the history of the Federal Reserve System, I led a bipartisan bill to bolster accountability at the Fed and I appreciate Senator Scott’s work to advance this effort.”
