Billionaire Elon Musk once again suggested that the Federal Reserve should undergo closer scrutiny , saying Thursday at a gathering of conservatives that he plans to audit the central bank.
He didn't elaborate on those plans beyond answering yes on stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference when asked if that's something he intended to do.
But it marked the second time this month that the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) endorsed a closer look at the Fed — an independent agency that decides the direction of interest rates and regulates the nation's biggest banks.
Musk's comments come after the White House this week moved to tighten control over how the Fed oversees those big banks as part of a new executive order that gives President Donald Trump's appointees more power over independent agencies.
The new order makes clear that monetary policy — the direction of interest rates — will remain under the Fed's full control, but that oversight of the country's biggest banks will now have a closer connection to the policies and priorities of the White House.
Read more: What is the Federal Reserve?
Musk first suggested he might be in favor of a Fed audit on Feb. 9 in a series of social media posts on his platform, X.
When another X user argued the Fed never had a full audit or a full disclosure of monetary policy decisions, Musk responded: "All aspects of the government must be fully transparent and accountable to the people. No exceptions, including, if not especially, the Federal Reserve."
The Fed is required by law to have its financial statements audited annually by an independent, outside public accounting firm. To ensure auditor independence, the Fed requires that the external auditor be independent in all matters relating to the audit.
In addition, the Government Accountability Office and the Federal Reserve board's Office of Inspector General frequently audit many Fed activities.
But some conservatives, notably former Congressman Ron Paul, have long pushed for a GAO audit of the Fed that would include the central bank's private deliberations on interest rate policy. Paul also authored a 2009 book called "End the Fed."
Musk on Feb. 9 separately responded to a post from another X user stating that Musk was considering tapping the 89-year-old Paul to head an audit of the Fed. Musk stated: "This will be great."
One lawmaker asked Fed Chair Jerome Powell last week during an appearance before the House Financial Services Committee about the new calls to audit the Fed, specifically whether he expects that could result in an effort to politically micromanage monetary policy.
"I have no way of knowing really what it is," Powell said.
Powell noted that the GAO "is free to work on every area of the Fed except monetary policy" and the “threat would be if that were to go away you'd have investigations into decisions on monetary policy.”
Powell has talked about such concerns before. In a February 2015 speech , he said he was "concerned" that auditing the Fed interest rate decision-making efforts would "subject monetary policy to undue political pressure and place new limits on the Fed's ability to respond to future crises."
"I believe these proposals fail to anticipate the significant costs and risks of subjecting monetary policy to political pressure and constraining the Fed's ability to carry out its traditional role of providing liquidity in a crisis," he said.
Powell said in 2015 that the audit idea was based on the assertion that the Fed operates in secrecy and was not accountable for its actions during the last financial crisis.
"The Fed has been transparent, accountable, and subject to extensive oversight, especially during and since the crisis," Powell said at the time. "We have also taken appropriate steps since the crisis to further enhance that transparency."
