Gonzalez wants public to have FOMC records.

WASHINGTON -- House Banking Committee Chairman Henry Gonzalez, D-Tex., wants to obtain and make public copies of the transcripts and other records of all meetings the Federal Open Market Committee has held since 1976.

In a Nov. 9 letter to Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan, Gonzalez said his committee seeks "a copy of every transcript and tape of meetings and conference calls of the FOMC from 1976 to the present."

Gonzalez has already asked Greenspan for more information about Fed procedures, policy meetings, hiring practices, and budgetary decisions. The congressman backs legislation to reform the Fed, a bill that President Clinton opposes on the grounds that t could unsettle the bond market.

Greenspan recently revealed that transcripts of all FOMC meetings since 1976 are kept under lock and key by the committee's secretary. Staff notes taken from transcripts going back to 1983 also exist, along with tapes of the last five conference calls that FOMC members have held since February.

A Fed spokesman declined to comment on the request from Gonzalez.

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