Sen. Pat Toomey speaks during a congressional hearing in Washington, D.C. | Sarah Silbiger-Pool/Getty ImagesThe Federal Reserve has lived to fight another day after its starring role in the economic relief negotiations. But itsA legislative compromise between Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Pat Toomey will limit the Fed’s ability to aid businesses, states and cities through emergency lending.
“Republicans exerted their prerogative to send a warning to the Fed: The more creative you get, the more political risk you take,” he added. “Those programs were complete departures from traditional, historical, normal Fed [emergency] functions, which is why the Fed came to Congress to launch them and to fund them,” Toomey told reporters on Sunday.
It’s an about-face from earlier this year when Democrats like Sen. Elizabeth Warren warned the money set aside to boost Fed lending amounted to a “slush fund” for boosting big businesses.