We’re a little late linking to this video of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing of May 5. But it’s well worth watching—especially by anyone not yet backing Rep. Ron Paul’s bill calling for an audit of the Fed.

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.): Have you reached any conclusions about the Fed expanding its balance sheet by over a trillion dollars since last September?

Federal Reserve Inspector General Elizabeth Coleman: We have not reached any conclusions.

Grayson: Do you know who received that money?

Coleman: For, the, we’re, we’re in the process right now of doing our review, and, um…

Grayson: Right, but you’re the Inspector General. My question to you specifically is do you know who received that one trillion dollars plus that the Fed extended and put on its balance sheets since last September? Do you know the identity of the recipients?

Coleman: I do not know. We have not looked at that specific area at this particular point on those reviews…

Grayson: Well, I have a copy of the Inspector General Act here in front of me, and it says among other things that it’s your responsibility to conduct and supervise audits and investigations related to the programs and operations of your agency. So I’m asking you if your agency has, in fact, according to Bloomberg, extended $9 trillion in credit—which by the way works to $30,000 for every man, woman, and child in this country. I’d like to know, if you’re not responsible for investigating that, who is?

Coleman: We actually, we have responsibility for the Federal Reserve’s programs and operations, to conduct audits and investigations in that area. Um, in terms of who’s responsible for investigating—would you mind repeating the question one more time?…

Grayson: So are you telling me that nobody at the Federal Reserve is keeping track on a regular basis of the losses that it incurs on what is now a $2 trillion portfolio?

Coleman: I don’t know if—you’re mentioning that there’s losses. I’m just saying that we’re not, until we actually look at the program and have the information, we are not in the position to say whether there are losses or to respond in any other way…