The clerk has begun to call the roll on Bernie Sanders’ amendment calling for a one-time audit of the Federal Reserve’s emergency lending activities during the recent financial crisis. Given the trans-ideological group of Senators who expressed support during today’s debate – including not only the expected trans-partisan alliance of Sanders and DeMint and Vitter but also Senate Banking Committee Chair Chris Dodd, ranking member Richard Shelby and noted critic of “populism” Judd Gregg, I would expect 85-plus votes for this measure. Given how long it’s taken to get even this level of transparency from the Fed, that’s a pretty shocking turn of events.

After the Sanders vote, the Vitter amendment, which restores the Grayson-Paul audit the Fed structure, imposing a probe of a broader scope of the Fed’s activities and a recurring audit, will get a vote.

…I have the transcript now of what Chris Dodd said on the Senate floor about continuing disclosure of the Fed’s recent activities with European central banks (excuse the all caps):

I WANT TO TELL MY COLLEAGUE FROM VERMONT, NOT ONLY ARE WE GOING TO ACHIEVE WHAT HE WANTS HERE WITH THIS AMENDMENT, BUT WE HAD A MEETING WITH THE CHAIRMAN OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE TO BRIEF US ON THE EVENTS IN EUROPE OVER THE WEEKEND AND THE CHAIRMAN OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE IS GOING TO PUT UP ON ITS WEB SITE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE THE CONTRACTS BETWEEN THE FED AND ANY OTHER CENTRAL BANKS THAT OCCURRED OVER THE PAST WEEKEND. HE’S ALSO COMMITTED THAT THE FED WOULD REPORT WEEKLY ON THE ACTIVITY ON EACH OF THE SWAP ACCOUNTS BY THE FEDERAL BANK, NOT SIMPLY THE AGGREGATE. THE LEGISLATION IS GOING TO DO A LOT, BUT YOU ALREADY HAVE AN INFLUENCE ON THE CONDUCT OF THE FED IN TERMS OF THE TRANSPARENCY ISSUES. SO I APPRECIATE VERY MUCH THE EFFORTS OF SENATOR SANDERS.

Obviously you don’t want to make this voluntary forever, but it’s encouraging that the Fed is this wary of secrecy at the moment.

…McConnell, Schumer, and Alexander all voted for the amendment, nobody has voted no thus far. This could actually get a 100-0 vote.

…Tim Johnson and Mark Warner, who are practically bankers themselves, just voted Aye on this amendment. Nobody’s going to dare vote against it.

…The amendment passes 96-0. Having that many Senate votes for this level of transparency from the Fed will be a powerful symbol that something’s rotten at the central bank and that even their defenders have no choice but to hold them minimally accountable. This sets up an interesting vote on the Vitter amendment, but I would expect the center to hold on that vote. Though with this display of anger at the Fed, I suppose anything’s possible.

…The Vitter amendment, which would have used the Grayson-Paul language to audit the Fed, failed by a count of 37-62. A roll call will be up later, but it generally broke down along party lines. I caught that Dorgan, Feingold, Sanders, Webb and Lincoln (boy is she scared) voted in favor for the Democrats, and McConnell, Alexander, Gregg and Scott Brown voted against for the Republicans. There may be more on both sides of that ledger.

UPDATE: Here’s the roll call on the Vitter amendment. You actually had seven Democrats supporting the final product – the above mentioned, plus Cantwell and Wyden. 11 Republicans opposed.