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 
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A BILL 
To amend the Federal Reserve Act to ensure transparency 
in the conduct of monetary policy, and for other purposes. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Monetary Policy 
Transparency and Accountability Act of 2017’’. 
SEC. 2. MONETARY POLICY TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNT-
ABILITY. 
Section 12A of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 
263) is amended— 
(1) by redesignating subsections (b) and (c) as 
subsections (d) and (e), respectively; and 
(2) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol-
lowing new subsections: 
‘‘(b) POLICY TRANSPARENCY.— 
‘‘(1) MONETARY POLICY STRATEGY.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Committee shall 
annually establish exactly 1 monetary policy 
strategy, which shall serve as a non-technical 
public communication of the Committee’s con-
sensus expectation for the conduct of monetary 
policy during that calendar year. 
‘‘(B) 
REQUIREMENTS.—Each 
monetary 
policy strategy of the Committee shall include 
the following: 
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‘‘(i) A plain English description of 
how the Committee would adjust each of 
the following monetary policy instruments 
in reaction to changes in a small and well- 
defined set of publicly available economic 
indicators: 
‘‘(I) Short-term interest rate tar-
gets established by the Committee. 
‘‘(II) Open-market operations au-
thorized under section 14. 
‘‘(III) 
Earnings 
on 
balances 
maintained at a Federal reserve bank 
by or on behalf of a depository institu-
tion under section 19(b)(12). 
‘‘(ii) An identification of 1 monetary 
policy instrument from the list in clause (i) 
that the Committee expects to use as the 
primary instrument for implementing the 
monetary policy strategy described under 
subparagraph (A). 
‘‘(2) REFERENCE MONETARY POLICY RULES.— 
In addition to the monetary policy strategy required 
under paragraph (1), the Committee shall annually 
adopt at least 1 and not more than 3 reference mon-
etary policy rules, each of which shall mathemati-
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cally express how the primary monetary policy in-
strument identified under paragraph (1)(B)(ii) re-
acts to changes in a small and well-defined set of 
publicly available economic indicators. 
‘‘(3) DEVIATIONS.—Nothing in this subsection 
shall be construed to prevent the Committee from 
setting short-term interest rate targets, conducting 
open-market operations, or paying earnings on bal-
ances pursuant to section 19(b)(12) in a manner 
that deviates from a monetary policy strategy or any 
reference monetary policy rules established under 
this subsection. 
‘‘(c) TESTIMONY
AND REPORTS
OF
THE CHAIR-
MAN.—The Chairman shall, concurrent with each semi-an-
nual hearing required under section 2B, submit a report 
to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Af-
fairs of the Senate and the Committee on Banking and 
Financial Services of the House of Representatives, con-
taining— 
‘‘(1) a statement as to whether the monetary 
policy strategy established under subsection (b)(1) 
qualitatively differs from any of the reference mone-
tary policy rules required under subsection (b)(2) 
and, if applicable, a full and non-technical expla-
nation of any such difference; 
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‘‘(2) a statement as to whether the Committee’s 
conduct of monetary policy since the previous report 
quantitatively differs from any reference monetary 
policy rule and, if applicable, a full and non-tech-
nical explanation of any such differences; and 
‘‘(3) a description of— 
‘‘(A) the circumstances under which the 
Committee’s monetary policy strategy may be 
amended from year to year; and 
‘‘(B) a full and non-technical explanation 
of any such actual amendment.’’. 
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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 trans-
parency in the conduct of monetary policy, and 
for other purposes. 
APRIL 25, 2018 
Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 
State of the Union and ordered to be printed 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
20:59 Apr 25, 2018
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
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