1、CRS INSIGHTLegislation Eliminating the Federal Reserves SurplusNovember 20, 2015 (IN10395) |Related Policy IssueMonetary Policy and the Federal Reserve Related AuthorMarc Labonte |Marc Labonte, Specialist in Macroeconomic Policy (mlabontecrs.loc.gov, 7-0640)On November 5, 2015, the House adopted H.A
2、mdt. 824 as a pay for (revenue offset) to the highway bill (H.R. 22). It would permanently eliminate the Federal Reserves (Feds) surplus account and transfer those funds to the Treasury. (This provision was also included in the version of H.R. 3189 that passed the House on November 19, 2015.) The am
3、endments sponsors described it as an alternative to the Fed dividend cut and G Fee increase pay fors in the Senate version of H.R. 22, which the House did not adopt. However, a scorekeeping rule adopted in 2000 prohibits the scoring of such Fed surplus transfers as an offset in the Senate.The Fed re
4、tains some of its profits in a surplus account, which currently has a balance of $29.3 billion. Since 1964, the Fed has set its surplus equal to the amount of capital that private banks are required to pay in as members of the Federal Reserve System. Together, the paid-in capital and surplus represe