Reply #4: Who got Fed money during financial crisis? Senate votes to know.

[ozymandius]

A Senate vote Tuesday left no doubt: Congress wants to know more about what the Federal Reserve was up to when its asset portfolio grew by more than $1 trillion during the financial crisis.

What companies did the Fed help, and on what terms?

The Senate voted 96 to 0 for the Government Accountability Office to look into those questions by auditing the Fed's activities since the outbreak of financial turmoil in 2007.

Supporters argue that the public has a right to know more about bailouts that were conducted by the long-secretive Fed, which acted on its own during the crisis. Critics of the move say the nation's central bank should have broad independence from political interference, and that the audit erodes the sharp line that should exist.

In the Senate, transparency found 96 supporters, Fed independence found zero.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20100511/ts_csm/300765