II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1155 

To amend the Federal Reserve Act to provide greater accountability to the 

Federal Reserve System, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 30, 2023 

Mr. TILLIS (for himself, Ms. LUMMIS, Mr. CRUZ, and Mr. CRAMER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend the Federal Reserve Act to provide greater accountability to the Federal Reserve System, and for other 

purposes. 

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 ‘‘Federal Reserve Ac5 countability Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. APPOINTMENT OF GENERAL COUNSEL. 

7 Subsection (l) of section 11 of the Federal Reserve 

8 Act (12 U.S.C. 248) is amended by inserting ‘‘The Presi9 dent shall appoint a general counsel for the Board, by and 


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1 with the advice and consent of the Senate. Sections 3345 

2 through 3349b of title 5, United States Code, shall not 

3 apply to the general counsel.’’ after the period at the end 

4 of the first sentence. 

5 SEC. 3. APPOINTMENT OF FEDERAL RESERVE BANK PRESI6 DENTS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The fifth paragraph of the fourth 

8 unenumerated paragraph of section 4 of the Federal Re9 serve Act (12 U.S.C. 341) is amended— 

10 (1) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘a presi11 dent, vice presidents,’’ and inserting ‘‘vice presi12 dents’’; 

13 (2) in the second sentence, by striking ‘‘Class 

14 B and Class C directors of the bank, with the ap15 proval of the Board of Governors of the Federal Re16 serve System’’ and inserting ‘‘President of the 

17 United States, by and with the advice and consent 

18 of the Senate’’; 

19 (3) by striking the third sentence and inserting 

20 ‘‘The first vice president of the bank shall be ap21 pointed by the Class B and Class C board of direc22 tors of the bank for a term of 5 years, and shall, 

23 in the absence or disability of the president or dur24 ing a vacancy in the office of the president, serve as 

25 chief executive officer of the bank, until a nominee 


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1 for president is confirmed by the Senate or the 

2 President of the United States appoints an acting 

3 president under sections 3345 through 3349b of title 

4 5, United States Code.’’; 

5 (4) in the fourth sentence, by striking ‘‘the 

6 president or’’; 

7 (5) by inserting ‘‘A president may continue to 

8 serve after the expiration of the term of office to 

9 which the president was appointed until the earlier 

10 of the date on which a successor has been appointed 

11 and qualified, the date on which the next session of 

12 Congress subsequent to the expiration of such term 

13 expires, or the date on which the President of the 

14 United States removes the president. No appointed 

15 president shall serve more than a total of 10 years, 

16 not including any such continuation in service.’’ 

17 after the period at the end of the fourth sentence; 

18 and 

19 (6) by inserting ‘‘The president shall have their 

20 primary residence and principal place of business lo21 cated in that Federal Reserve district for not fewer 

22 than 4 years before the date on which the President 

23 nominates the individual to be president of the Fed24 eral Reserve bank for that Federal Reserve district.’’ 


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1 after the period at the end of the fifth sentence, as 

2 added by paragraph (5) of this subsection. 

3 (b) SUSPENSION OR REMOVAL OF OFFICERS.—Sec4 tion 11(f) of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 248(f)) 

5 is amended by inserting ‘‘(except the president)’’ after 

6 ‘‘reserve bank’’. 

7 (c) APPLICABILITY.—Sections 3345 through 3349b 

8 of title 5, United States Code, shall apply to presidents 

9 of Federal Reserve banks in the same manner as officers 

10 of Executive agencies. 

11 SEC. 4. FEDERAL RESERVE DISTRICTS. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2 of the Federal Reserve 

13 Act (12 U.S.C. 222) is amended by striking the first un14 designated paragraph and inserting the following: 

15 ‘‘The continental United States shall be divided into 

16 5 Federal Reserve districts. The First Federal Reserve 

17 District shall be composed of Maine, New Hampshire, 

18 Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New 

19 York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, the Common20 wealth of Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Is21 lands, with the city of New York, New York, as the loca22 tion of the Federal Reserve bank. The Second Federal Re23 serve District shall be composed of Ohio, West Virginia, 

24 Virginia, Maryland, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, 

25 Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the District of Columbia, with 


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1 the city of Cleveland, Ohio, as the location of the Federal 

2 Reserve bank. The Third Federal Reserve District shall 

3 be composed of Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, 

4 Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, 

5 and Montana, with the city of Kansas City, Missouri, as 

6 the location of the Federal Reserve bank. The Fourth Fed7 eral Reserve District shall be composed of Texas, Arkan8 sas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, 

9 North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida, with the city 

10 of Dallas, Texas, as the location of the Federal Reserve 

11 bank. The Fifth Federal Reserve District shall be com12 posed of California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Hawaii, 

13 Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Guam, Amer14 ican Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands, with the 

15 city of San Francisco, California, as the location of the 

16 Federal Reserve bank. Every national bank in any State 

17 shall, upon commencing business, become a member bank 

18 of the Federal Reserve System by subscribing and paying 

19 for stock in the Federal Reserve bank of its district in 

20 accordance with the provisions of this Act and shall there21 upon be an insured bank under the Federal Deposit Insur22 ance Act, and failure to do so shall subject such bank to 

23 the penalty provided by the sixth paragraph of this sec24 tion.’’. 


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1 (b) FEDERAL OPEN MARKET COMMITTEE.—Section 

2 12A of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 263) is amend3 ed by striking subsection (a) and inserting the following: 

4 ‘‘(a) There is hereby created a Federal Open Market 

5 Committee (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Committee’), 

6 which shall consist of the members of the Board of Gov7 ernors of the Federal Reserve System and the chief execu8 tive officers of the 5 Federal Reserve banks.’’. 

9 (c) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

10 (1) Section 11 of the Federal Reserve Act (12 

11 U.S.C. 248) is amended by striking subsection (e). 

12 (2) The third undesignated paragraph of sec13 tion 16 of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 413) 

14 is amended, in the third sentence, by striking 

15 ‘‘twelve’’ and inserting ‘‘5’’. 

16 SEC. 5. BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE 

17 SYSTEM. 

18 The first undesginated paragraph of section 10 of the 

19 Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 241) is amended— 

20 (1) in the second sentence, by striking ‘‘one of 

21 whom shall be selected from’’ and inserting ‘‘2 of 

22 whom may be residents of’’; and 

23 (2) by inserting ‘‘In this paragraph, the term 

24 ‘resident of any one Federal Reserve district’ means 

25 an individual whose primary residence and principal 


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1 place of business has been located in a Federal Re2 serve district for not fewer than 4 years before the 

3 date on which the President nominates the indi4 vidual as a member of the Board.’’ after the period 

5 at the end of the fourth sentence. 

6 SEC. 6. LOBBYING WITH MONEYS. 

7 The Federal Reserve Act is amended by inserting 

8 after section 15 (12 U.S.C. 391 et seq.) the following: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 15A. LOBBYING WITH MONEYS. 

10 ‘‘No part of the income, interest, fees, money, or 

11 other funds of the Board of Governors of the Federal Re12 serve System or any Federal Reserve bank shall, in the 

13 absence of express authorization by Congress, be used di14 rectly or indirectly to pay for any personal service, adver15 tisement, telegram, telephone, letter, printed or written 

16 matter, or other device, intended or designed to influence 

17 in any manner a Member of Congress, a jurisdiction, or 

18 an official of any government, to favor, adopt, or oppose, 

19 by vote or otherwise, any legislation, law, ratification, pol20 icy, or appropriation, whether before or after the introduc21 tion of any bill, measure, or resolution proposing such leg22 islation, law, ratification, policy, or appropriation; but this 

23 shall not prevent officers or employees of the Federal Re24 serve System from communicating to any such Member 

25 or official, at his request, or to Congress or such official, 


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1 through the proper official channels, requests for any leg2 islation, law, ratification, policy, or appropriations which 

3 they deem necessary for the efficient conduct of the public 

4 business, or from making any communication whose prohi5 bition by this section might, in the opinion of the Attorney 

6 General, violate the Constitution or interfere with the con7 duct of foreign policy, counter-intelligence, intelligence, or 

8 national security activities. Violations of this section shall 

9 constitute violations of section 1352(a) of title 31, United 

10 States Code.’’. 

Æ 


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