WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank today issued the following statement:

“Some recent press reports have suggested that the Dodd-Frank Act requires only a one-time audit of the Federal Reserve System. That is incorrect. In fact, the act requires an unprecedented and permanent increase in Fed transparency; new authority for the GAO to audit the Fed whenever it chooses, and a requirement that the Fed itself, on a regular basis, publically disclose detailed information about discount window transactions and open market operations as well any transactions undertaken by any new facility that the Board of Governors may create.”

“The confusion may result from a separate provision that the GAO must, on a one-time basis, conduct an audit of the special facilities created by the Fed in response to the financial crisis.”

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