The House Subcommittee on Monetary Policy and Trade will hold a hearing, “Examining Federal Reserve Reform Proposals“, on July 22 at 10:00AM in 2128 Rayburn House Office Building. APIA will be attending this hearing as an observer.
According to the official memorandum to Committee Members, along with proposed legislation for Federal Reserve accountability and transparency the Subcommittee will be giving consideration to:
H.R. 2912: the “Centennial Monetary Commission Act of 2015”
Introduced by Representative Brady of Texas, H.R. 2912, the “Centennial Monetary Commission Act of 2015” establishes the Centennial Monetary Commission to study monetary policy including, among other topics, (1) the historical monetary policy of the Federal Reserve; (2) the various operational regimes under which the Federal Reserve may conduct monetary policy; (3) the use of macro-prudential supervision and regulation as a tool of monetary policy; and (4) the Lender-of-Last-Resort function. The Commission is also charged with recommending a course of United States monetary policy going forward and must report to Congress with its findings, conclusions, and recommendations by December 1, 2016.
The Commission has 12 voting members – six appointed by the Speaker of the House and six by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate – and two non-voting members. Of the non-voting members, one is appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury and the other, who must be a president of a Federal Reserve Bank, is appointed by the Chair of the Federal Reserve. The Commission is empowered to hold hearings, take testimony, receive evidence, and administer oaths. The Commission is also authorized to obtain official data from Executive Branch agencies.
The following economists will be presenting testimony at this hearing:
- Dr. John Cochrane, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution
- Dr. Paul Kupiec, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute
- Dr. Donald Kohn, Senior Fellow, Economic Studies, Brookings Institution
- Dr. John Taylor, Professor of Economics, Stanford University
Monetary Policy Subcommittee Chair Bill Huizinga and full Committee Chair Jeb Hensarling, as well as Rep. Kevin Brady, deserve high praise for turning the attention of the House of Representatives to the crucial issue of bringing about healthy, good job creation and ending wage stagnation by taking monetary policy out of “uncharted territory” to restore equitable prosperity to America and the world.
Ralph Benko, internationally published weekly columnist, co-author of The 21st Century Gold Standard, lead co-editor of the Gerald Malsbary translation from Latin to English of Copernicus’s Essay on Money, is American Principles in Action’s Senior Advisor, Economics.
