Last Updated on September 2, 2022 by Constitutional Militia
The Federal Reserve Act, Section 30
The Federal Reserve Act of 1913, which created the Federal Reserve System, expressly states that Congress reserves the right to “amend, alter or repeal” this legislation at any time. Why is that reservation clause there? Every American should be aware of its existence. They should be able to repeat Section 30 of the Federal Reserve Act in the same way they would know how to sing “Happy Birthday”, because in a sense it’s almost as joyous. But why is it there? It’s very peculiar when you think about it because you don’t see that, generally, in statutes passed by Congress or by State legislatures. Why? Because it is never considered likely that Congress will lose its authority to repeal any statute without expressly reserving the right to do so. How would that happen? Could one Congress write a provision that said, “This statute cannot be repealed?” Of course not. One Congress cannot bind another Congress. The Constitution certainly is one thing that’s fixed and it certainly does not provide for statutes that cannot be repealed or amended. So why is Section 30 of the Federal Reserve Act there? The reason is, the Federal Reserve is largely made up, perhaps totally made up of, private parties. All twelve Federal Regional Banks are private entities, and there have been court decisions dealing with such matters. Also, the banks in the lower part of the pyramid—the commercial banks (e.g., Bank of America, Wachovia), the various State banks (that is, chartered in the states), are private banks. These are all private banks, the entire system is private.
