Scared Monkeys Discussion Forum

"Change is coming," says Vincent Reinhart, the former head of the Fed's division of monetary affairs who is now a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. "They would be better off accepting that and trying to manage the process rather than being defensive."

Speaking recently at the Economic Club of Washington, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke stressed the importance of the Fed's role as a supervisor and reiterated his opposition to a plan that would expose the central bank's monetary policy decisions to review from the Government Accountability Office. Lawmakers are also want to take away the Fed's power to write and enforce consumer protection laws, moving that authority to a new agency.

But other lawmakers seemed to signal their support of the bill's goals recently. "I would encourage you again to consider what type of openness or audit ... would be appropriate in order to reassure the American people that we're not looking at another Fannie Mae situation," Sen. Jim DeMint, (R-S.C.), told Bernanke. "We were told not to worry ... everything is OK, and now we saw what it did. We can't allow that to happen to the Federal Reserve."