WASHINGTON – The Senate voted unanimously to peer into Federal Reserve decision-making Tuesday, authorizing an examination of the central bank’s emergency lending to financial institutions in the months surrounding the 2008 financial crisis.
Separately, Democrats rejected a Republican plan to end the government’s support of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — a financial rescue that now stands at $145 billion. Instead, the Senate voted to instruct the Treasury to study and recommend how the government can end its relationship with the two housing finance companies.
The two measures that passed were amendments to a comprehensive financial regulation bill that the Senate intends to wrap up sometime next week.
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