Senate OK’s one-time audit-the-Fed measure

(MarketWatch) — A controversial measure requiring the government to conduct an unprecedented one-time audit of the Federal Reserve’s economic crisis response programs was approved with overwhelming bipartisan support Tuesday by the Senate as part of sweeping bank reform legislation. The amendment also calls for releasing the names of institutions that received in total more than $2 trillion in loans from the central bank during the peak of the financial crisis. The provision received a vote of 96-0, with many lawmakers agreeing to back it following a compromise reached late Thursday. “This makes it clear that the Fed can no longer operate under the kind of secrecy it has been operating under,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., the measure’s author.

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