Rep. Boehner backs Bloomberg in Fed disclosure case
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Bloomberg News, battling to force the Federal Reserve to disclose the names of the banks that are borrowing under the Fed’s emergency lending programs, is getting support from House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio.
The central bank ‘should comply with this Freedom of Information Act request, and in the interest of full and fair disclosure, they must begin providing lawmakers and taxpayers all information about how they are using federal tax dollars,’ Boehner said in a statement.
After the Fed balked at Bloomberg’s request for the names, the news organization on Friday filed a federal lawsuit seeking to force disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.
As noted in this previous post, the Fed has kept secret the names of the recipients of almost $2 trillion of emergency loans made in recent months, as the credit crisis has deepened.
From Bloomberg:
Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson said in September they would comply with congressional demands for transparency in a $700 billion bailout of the banking system. Two months later, as the Fed lends far more than that in separate rescue programs that didn’t require approval by Congress, Americans have no idea where their money is going or what securities the banks are pledging in return.