Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., told Newsmax on Wednesday an independent inspector general needs to be appointed to the Federal Reserve in the wake of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, the largest collapse of a U.S. bank in more than a decade.
Scott and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., introduced a bill Wednesday that would require a presidentially appointed and Senate-confirmed inspector general to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.
The Fed’s inspector general is Mark Bialek, who was appointed by the board in 2011.
“The way the Federal Reserve works right now is, [Chairman Jerome] Powell gets to appoint the inspector general, so it’s not independent at all,” Scott told “The Record With Greta Van Susteren.” “Do you think that person is ever going to talk about the problems at the Federal Reserve?
“And think about this: Nobody in 2008 that I know of at the Federal Reserve was ever held accountable for the banking crisis we had then. They should have figured out Silicon Valley Bank way earlier than this.”
Scott said almost all of the large federal agencies have independent inspectors general, “so there’s no logical reason why we don’t have one at the Federal Reserve.”
“I’m working with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and we’re going to make this happen to make sure the American public gets better information about how the Federal Reserve is operating,” Scott said.
As of March 15, Federal Reserve data showed it controlled more than $8.6 trillion in assets. With so much money at its control, Scott said the bill is a way to bring more oversight to the Fed.
“I believe in accountability,” Scott said. “The Federal Reserve is unaccountable right now. They run up a balance sheet that’s astronomical, almost $9 trillion. We go through these crises where they bail people out. Nobody ever says, ‘Is that in compliance with the law?’ There’s never any accountability; so I think we’ve got to have accountability, and this is the way to start it.”
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