The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services announced late Monday that it would hold a hearing on proposed legislation aimed at reforming the Federal Reserve.
The hearing, whose title alludes to the 100 year anniversary of the Fed, is set for Thursday at 10 AM EST and will consider the merits of the Federal Reserve Accountability and Transparency Act, sponsored by Republicans Bill Huizenga of Michigan and Scott Garrett of New Jersey.
Specifics of the bill have not yet been made public but according to a memo obtained by Reuters, it would require the Fed to conduct cost-benefit analysis when adopting new rules and to disclose the salaries of highly paid employees.
Huizenga has been critical of the Federal Reserve in the past.
“The Fed has made an attempt to stimulate the domestic economy by using an unprecedented number of interventionist policies”, he said in a January statement. “However, the result of this experiment has caused investors to take on increased risk and look internationally in search of higher returns.
The Federal Reserve, the United States’ central bank with a hand in almost everything touched by the financial system from monetary policy to default servicing regulations, is somewhat of a political hot button in Republican circles.
Still, with a Democratic controlled Senate that is likely unmotivated to take up this or any other Federal Reserve legislation, the fate of reform will probably turn on the results of the upcoming November midterm congressional elections.