In Case You Missed It, Part II

From the Inky's PhillyDeal$ blog on 1/15:

Bucks County's U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Pa., got his second term off to a convincing start today when the House of Representatives in Washington voted 426-0 to approve his amendment that would force the Federal Reserve to explain how it hired BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, Pimco and Wellington Management to manage $500 billion in mortgage-backed securities, how much it's paying them, and how it's making sure they don't trade the MBS for personal advantage. Read the amendment here.

Murphy says he wasn't doing this at the request of other money managers or interested parties. "We have no idea how they found those managers. We don't even know how much they're getting paid," Murphy told me, echoing his speech on the House floor. The worst, he said, was getting blown off by the Fed when he asked for details -- even though it's legally responsible to Congress. "I taught constitutional law at West Point," he said. "I'm not going to stand for that."