Federal Reserve Dividend Reduction Deserves Thorough Debate
In July, the U.S. Senate introduced a plan to offset new highway spending by reducing the dividend that the Federal Reserve pays to member banks. While it is still unclear exactly where this idea originated, an anonymous Democratic staffer recently referred to the dividend as “an unnecessary and wasteful subsidy.”[1] It now appears that the dividend reduction will go forward even if it offsets outlays other than highway spending.