HR-6741 : Still Just a Bill

Federal Reserve Reform Act of 2018

This bill revises provisions related to the authority of the Federal Reserve Board to set monetary policy. Among other things, the bill

• generally limits the board's emergency-lending authority;
• subjects the nonmonetary policy-related administrative costs of the board to the congressional appropriations process;
• limits the types of securities that the board may acquire in the open market to gold stock, currency, and direct obligations of the United States, foreign banks, or the International Monetary Fund;
• requires the board to exchange certain assets with the Department of the Treasury for direct U.S. obligations of equivalent value;
• requires the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) to set the interest rates on balances maintained at Federal Reserve banks by depository institutions;
• revises the membership of the FOMC; and
• requires the FOMC to annually publish its monetary policy strategy;