Response from Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey on Fed

I recently messaged my congresswoman, Lynn Woolsey, thanking her for backing Ron Paul's HR 1207 and asking her to help limit Fed powers. This is her response (modified slightly):

July 30, 2009

Dear Ranter:

Thank you for contacting me about the Federal Reserve System. I
appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts with me on this
issue.

Like you, I believe we must support monetary policy that promotes
better economic performance, accountability, and transparency. The
Federal Reserve System is the central banking system of the United
States and its purpose is to address banking panics, strike a balance
between private interests of banks and the centralized responsibility of
government, manage the nation's money supply through monetary
policy, and contain systemic risk in financial markets.

As the Federal Reserve takes unprecedented action to stabilize our
economy and financial markets, we must increase transparency and
oversight of this institution. That's why I'm a cosponsor of H.R. 1207,
the Federal Reserve Transparency Act, which would eliminate
restrictions on General Accounting Office (GAO) audits of the Federal
Reserve. Additionally, it would enhance transparency by opening up
Federal Reserve funding facilities, like the Primary Dealer Credit
Facility, Term Securities Lending Facility, and Term Asset-Backed
Securities Lending Facility, to Congressional oversight. H.R. 1207 has
been referred to the House Committee on Financial Services. You may
be interested to know that S. 896, the Helping Families Save Their
Homes Act, permits audits by the GAO of a limited number of Federal
Reserve emergency activities. I voted for this bill when it passed
Congress, and it was signed into law by President Barack Obama on
May 20, 2009. Be assured I will keep your thoughts in mind as I
continue to work to strengthen oversight and transparency of our
financial markets.

Again, it's good to hear from you. The people of Marin and Sonoma
counties are the most important voices I listen to as I serve in Congress.

Sincerely,

Lynn Woolsey
Member of Congress

PS - Visit my web site and sign up to receive e-mail updates on
legislative issues that are important to you. The address is:
http://woolsey.house.gov/emailupdates.asp .