Word: patman
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...Ever since the 1930s, Texas Democrat Wright Patman has been fulminating to bring the Federal Reserve System under tighter Government control. As it is, the Fed is a unique agency that, by design, is not subject to congressional appropriations or Government audit. It pays its own way largely out of interest earned on federal securities. The intention was, and is, to give the Fed a measure of independence from political control...
...perennial attacks, Patman, head of the House Banking and Currency Committee, last week at a subcommittee hearing accused the Federal Reserve Board of spending as much as $588,200 on questionable or frivolous items. Examples: $2,514.11 on a picnic with prizes at the Buffalo branch, $50 for a parking fine and towing charge for a New York Fed official, $20.90 for babysitting charges so that a New York member and his wife could attend two dinners. In addition, Patman was disturbed by the Fed's "Thrift" club, in which the system has contributed almost $2,000,000 annually...
...Patman's complaints may liven up the banker's-gray image. "Has the Federal Reserve System ever paid for Federal Reserve clubs to have parties at Playboy clubs, complete with appropriately attired bunnies?" Patman demanded, having already received reports on the subject from member banks. Replied Federal Reserve Board Chairman Arthur Burns: "I didn't know there was that much imagination on the part of any of my colleagues...
...passed as part of the continuing cat-and-mouse game between Congress and the President. In August 1970 inflation was climbing and job rolls were shrinking. Anxious about the economy, Wright Patman, the aged and wily chairman of the House Banking and Currency Committee, decided to put the President on the spot. He maneuvered to attach the Economic Stabilization Act with its wage and price controls as an amendment to a bill extending the life of the Defense Production Act, which was about to expire. The provision was approved by both Democrat-controlled houses of Congress...
...controls mandatory." Congress preferred to let Nixon take the responsibility. In March it voted to extend the Economic Stabilization Act, and Nixon once more protested, although this time the Administration softened its position somewhat; it was growing less confident about its own economic policies. Treasury Secretary Connally told the Patman committee that the White House would "accept" the bill rather than fight it. And last week Nixon enthusiastically assumed the powers that he had once brusquely turned down...