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Hoyer: Republicans have the 'right' to pressure Fed
House Minority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said that Republicans have the "right" to call on the Federal Reserve to make certain policy moves, just as the Fed has the right to reject them.
Hoyer seemed to break with some Democratic colleagues, who fiercely criticized GOP leaders for sending a letter to the Fed pressuring it to avoid further attempts to stimulate the economy. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) took to the Senate floor Wednesday to call the letter "wrong-headed" and a political intrusion on the independent central bank.
But Hoyer said politicians have the right to make recommendations to the Fed, just as they do other institutions.
"Of course it's an independent body, but it's a free country," he said. "The Republicans and Democrats and others have the right to make suggestions to the Fed or to the president or to the Congress."
"They have the right to do it, and of course the Fed, as an independent body, has the right to say, 'Well, thank you very much, but we don't agree,'" Hoyer said.
Top Republicans in the House and Senate sent the letter to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke on Monday, detailing "serious concerns" they had about further intervention, because they say previous efforts have done more harm than good.
"The American people have reason to be skeptical of the Federal Reserve vastly increasing its role in the economy if measurable outcomes cannot be demonstrated," the lawmakers wrote.
The letter came one day before a highly anticipated meeting of the Fed's Federal Open Market Committee, which sets Fed policy. With the economic recovery slowing down, many have anticipated the Fed will take further steps in an attempt to boost economic growth.
But Republicans have vocally criticized previous such efforts, arguing that they had little effect and devalued the dollar.
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