Congressional approval and monetary authority

I have written about the Fed's swap line transactions with several foreign banks. The total now exceeds $600 Billion. Again, these swap lines are collateralized by foreign currency. That the massive amounts involved are not subject to Congressional oversight and approval is a travesty and something I am investigating at the moment.

I can only recite the words of James Buchanan at this point in the discussion...

"...This framework role for government also was considered to include the establishment of a monetary standard, and in such fashion as to insure predictability in the value of the designated monetary unit. It is in the monetary responsibility that almost all constitutions have failed, even those that were allegedly motivated originally by classical liberal precepts. Governments, throughout history, have almost always moved beyond constitutionally authorized limits of their monetary authority."