the house and senate oversight committees twice every year to report on monetary policy, and, in practice, to respond to questions about anything and everything on the effectiveness of the fed ’ s unconventional monetary policy, see eric m. engen, thomas t. laubach, and david reifschneider ( 2015 ), “ the macroeconomic effects of the federal reserve ’ s unconventional monetary policy actions ( pdf ), ” finance and economic discussion series 2015 – 005 ( washington : board of governors of the federal reserve system, january ) ; joseph gagnon, matthew raskin, julie remache, and brian sack ( 2011 ), “ the financial market effects of the federal reserve ’ s large - scale asset purchases, ” international journal of central banking, vol. 7 ( march ), pp. 3 – 43 ; stefania d ’ amico and thomas b. king ( 2013 ), “ flow and stock effects of large - scale treasury purchases : evidence on the importance of local supply, ” journal of money, credit and banking, vol. 44 ( february, issue supplement s1 ), pp. 3 – 46. on the effectiveness of the fed ’ s emergency lending, see sean d. campbell, daniel m. covitz, william r. nelson, and karen m. pence ( 2011 ), “ securitization markets and central banking : an evaluation of the term asset - backed securities loan facility, ” journal of finance, vol. 68 ( april ), pp. 715 – 37 ; and tao wu ( 2011 ), “ the u. s. money market and the term auction facility in the financial crisis of 2007 – 2009, ” review of economics and statistics, vol. 93 ( may ), pp. 617 – 31. bis central bankers ’ speeches related to the fed ’ s activities. the chair and other board members routinely make additional appearances before the congress and meet frequently with members. more generally, the fed is open and transparent in its operations, including those related to monetary policy, accounting for itself in timely postmeeting fomc statements, minutes, broadcast press conferences, and speeches. 7 details about the fed ’ s balance sheet are on the public record ; in fact, every security owned by the fed is identified individually on the website of the federal reserve bank of new york. 8 the fomc ’ s plans to normalize the balance sheet have been the subject of exhaustive discussion – in fomc meetings,

jerome h powell : “ audit the fed ” and other proposals speech by mr jerome h powell, member of the board of governors of the federal reserve system, at the catholic university of america, columbus school of law, washington dc, 9 february 2015. * * * the views expressed here are my own and not necessarily those of other members of the federal open market committee. it is a pleasure and a particularly personal honor for me to speak to you today as a guest of this institution. i am proud to say that my grandfather, james j. hayden, earned his doctorate of law from catholic university and later served as dean of the law school. he was an early scholar of the regulation prompted by a technological innovation that would change the world – aviation. he was, in that sense, someone who looked to the future and wanted to be a part of it. in his years leading the law school, i hope my grandfather could also glimpse the great institution that it would become. it has been a little more than six years since the fall of 2008, when the peak of a severe financial crisis presented the very real threat of a second great depression. the damage was extensive, and for some time, the recovery was frustratingly slow. but the economy has improved considerably over the past two years, and i am optimistic that that this improvement will continue. the financial system is also stronger and more resilient after improvements in regulation and oversight by the federal reserve and other agencies and better management by banks and other financial firms. the fed acted boldly during and after the financial crisis in the face of great uncertainty. the full effects of these policies will become clearer with the passage of time. indeed, the federal reserve ’ s role in the great depression of the 1930s is still actively debated. that said, as i will show, the evidence as of today is very strong that the fed ’ s actions generally succeeded and are a major reason why the u. s. economy is now outperforming those of other advanced nations. other central banks are now embracing some of the same bold steps undertaken much earlier by the fed. against that background, i am concerned about several troubling proposals that would subject monetary policy to undue political pressure and place new limits on the fed ’ s ability to respond to future crises. my remarks will address three such proposals. the first goes by the somewhat misleading name of “ audit the fed, ” and would subject the federal reserve ’ s conduct of monetary policy to unlimited congressional