IB 

Union Calendar No. 500 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4270 

[Report No. 115–652] 

To amend the Federal Reserve Act to ensure transparency in the conduct 

of monetary policy, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 7, 2017 

Mr. BARR introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Financial Services 

APRIL 25, 2018 

Additional sponsors: Mrs. WAGNER, Mr. HUIZENGA, Mr. ROKITA, Mr. 

PITTENGER, and Mr. BUDD

APRIL 25, 2018 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union 

and ordered to be printed 


pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 4270 RH

A BILL 

To amend the Federal Reserve Act to ensure transparency 

in the conduct of monetary policy, and for other purposes. 


pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 4270 RH

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Monetary Policy 

5 Transparency and Accountability Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. MONETARY POLICY TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNT7 ABILITY. 

8 Section 12A of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 

9 263) is amended— 

10 (1) by redesignating subsections (b) and (c) as 

11 subsections (d) and (e), respectively; and 

12 (2) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol13 lowing new subsections: 

14 ‘‘(b) POLICY TRANSPARENCY.— 

15 ‘‘(1) MONETARY POLICY STRATEGY.— 

16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Committee shall 

17 annually establish exactly 1 monetary policy 

18 strategy, which shall serve as a non-technical 

19 public communication of the Committee’s con20 sensus expectation for the conduct of monetary 

21 policy during that calendar year. 

22 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS.—Each monetary 

23 policy strategy of the Committee shall include 

24 the following: 


pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 4270 RH

1 ‘‘(i) A plain English description of 

2 how the Committee would adjust each of 

3 the following monetary policy instruments 

4 in reaction to changes in a small and well5 defined set of publicly available economic 

6 indicators: 

7 ‘‘(I) Short-term interest rate tar8 gets established by the Committee. 

9 ‘‘(II) Open-market operations au10 thorized under section 14. 

11 ‘‘(III) Earnings on balances 

12 maintained at a Federal reserve bank 

13 by or on behalf of a depository institu14 tion under section 19(b)(12). 

15 ‘‘(ii) An identification of 1 monetary 

16 policy instrument from the list in clause (i) 

17 that the Committee expects to use as the 

18 primary instrument for implementing the 

19 monetary policy strategy described under 

20 subparagraph (A). 

21 ‘‘(2) REFERENCE MONETARY POLICY RULES.— 

22 In addition to the monetary policy strategy required 

23 under paragraph (1), the Committee shall annually 

24 adopt at least 1 and not more than 3 reference mon25 etary policy rules, each of which shall mathematiVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:59 Apr 25, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4270.RH H4270

pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 4270 RH

1 cally express how the primary monetary policy in2 strument identified under paragraph (1)(B)(ii) re3 acts to changes in a small and well-defined set of 

4 publicly available economic indicators. 

5 ‘‘(3) DEVIATIONS.—Nothing in this subsection 

6 shall be construed to prevent the Committee from 

7 setting short-term interest rate targets, conducting 

8 open-market operations, or paying earnings on bal9 ances pursuant to section 19(b)(12) in a manner 

10 that deviates from a monetary policy strategy or any 

11 reference monetary policy rules established under 

12 this subsection. 

13 ‘‘(c) TESTIMONY AND REPORTS OF THE CHAIR14 MAN.—The Chairman shall, concurrent with each semi-an15 nual hearing required under section 2B, submit a report 

16 to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Af17 fairs of the Senate and the Committee on Banking and 

18 Financial Services of the House of Representatives, con19 taining— 

20 ‘‘(1) a statement as to whether the monetary 

21 policy strategy established under subsection (b)(1) 

22 qualitatively differs from any of the reference mone23 tary policy rules required under subsection (b)(2) 

24 and, if applicable, a full and non-technical expla25 nation of any such difference; 


pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 4270 RH

1 ‘‘(2) a statement as to whether the Committee’s 

2 conduct of monetary policy since the previous report 

3 quantitatively differs from any reference monetary 

4 policy rule and, if applicable, a full and non-tech5 nical explanation of any such differences; and 

6 ‘‘(3) a description of— 

7 ‘‘(A) the circumstances under which the 

8 Committee’s monetary policy strategy may be 

9 amended from year to year; and 

10 ‘‘(B) a full and non-technical explanation 

11 of any such actual amendment.’’. 


pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS

pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS
Union Calendar No. 500 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4270 

[Report No. 115–652] 

A BILL 

To amend the Federal Reserve Act to ensure transfor other purposes. parency in the conduct of monetary policy, and 

APRIL 25, 2018 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 

State of the Union and ordered to be printed 


pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS