Update from the Fed on the New Possible Legislation

Yesterday, the Fed issued a joint press release with the Treasury which included a mysterious final paragraph that said in part:

Treasury and the Federal Reserve will seek legislation to give the Federal Reserve the additional tools it will need to enable it to manage the level of reserves while providing the funding necessary for the TALF and for other key credit-easing programs

Since we are in the era of Bernanke's new transparent Fed, I had a number of phone conversations with the Fed about this statement, yesterday and today. Here are the key Q & A elements of my conversations with the Fed's spokesmen:

RW: I noticed in today's joint release that the Treasury and the Fed are planning to seek legislation to give the Fed additional tools to manage reserve levels, can you give me a sense as to what type of legislation you will be seeking?

Fed: Let me get back to you on that.

Fed spokesman returns call in fifteen minutes.

Fed: Hi, I don't have anything for you on that.

RW: Can you give me a sense as to when you might be getting the legislation introduced?

Fed: I don't have anything for you on that.

Thinking the legislation might have something to do with the legal right of the Fed to issue its own debt, I tried again this morning.

RW: There has been some talk in recent weeks that the Fed might be seeking to gain the right to issue its own debt. Can you give me a sense for whether this is still under consideration by the Fed?

Fed: I don't have anything for you on that.