# Federal Reserve *United States agency, and the subject of two at-issue pairs in the Minnesota record concerning the Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act of 1978.* The Federal Reserve is the federal agency at the center of two at-issue pairs in the [[Minnesota]] record. Both concern the Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act of 1978, known as Humphrey-Hawkins. The Act set numerical unemployment and inflation goals. The Federal Reserve's own institutional history records that both enforcement mechanisms its chief sponsor sought were dropped: "Neither proposal passed."[^1] The record therefore sets two things side by side, both drawn from the Federal Reserve's own account. One is the goals the statute announced. The other is the means it enacted to reach them.[^1] The project's catalogue also lists Federal Reserve primary publications among its sources. These include the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting calendars and historical materials, and the FOMC materials of June 10, 2020.[^2][^3][^4] ## Who [[Hubert Humphrey]] wanted two mechanisms in the full-employment bill. The first was government provision of jobs if the employment goals were not met. The second would have required the Federal Reserve Board to respond within fifteen days to explain any deviation from the President's monetary recommendations.[^1] The Board was therefore the body that the unenacted fifteen-day requirement would have bound. President Carter signed the Act without either mechanism.[^1] The catalogue also lists a federal appellate decision in which a Reserve Bank is a named party: *EEOC v. Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond*, 698 F.2d 633 (4th Cir. 1983).[^5] The pack carries the citation only, not the court's findings. ## What The Act as enacted set two goals: * unemployment not to exceed 3 percent for those 20 and older; * inflation reduced to 3 percent or less, reaching zero by 1988, "provided that its reduction would not interfere with the employment goal."[^1] ## When President Carter signed the Act on October 27, 1978.[^1] The project's validated dossier places the signing nine months and fourteen days after Humphrey died at [[Waverly]].[^1] ## How The Federal Reserve's history describes what was proposed and what was enacted. The bill's two proposed means of enforcement were government-provided jobs and a fifteen-day Federal Reserve response requirement. Neither became law; the history states, "Neither proposal passed."[^1] The project's dossier notes that the essay describes no consequence for missing the targets.[^1] The enacted text thus carried the goals without either of the two mechanisms its sponsor had sought.[^1] ## In the at-issue record - **Targets without a lever.** The first pair places the statute's national unemployment target of three percent beside the two mechanisms proposed to enforce it. Both mechanisms were excluded before passage.[^1] The pair's listed sources are the Federal Reserve History essay and a statute record. The project anchors the pair to the White House presidential action *Establishing the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud* (March 2026).[^6] - **The two proposed levers.** The second pair records that Humphrey sought government-provided jobs and a fifteen-day Federal Reserve justification requirement. It records that neither passed, and that the enacted statute kept the numerical goals without either lever.[^1] It carries the same White House anchor.[^6] ## Notes [^1]: Federal Reserve History, *Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act of 1978 (Humphrey-Hawkins)* — establishes the enacted unemployment and inflation targets, the October 27, 1978 signing, and that Humphrey's proposed government job provision and fifteen-day Federal Reserve response requirement did not pass; quoted: "provided that its reduction would not interfere with the employment goal" and "Neither proposal passed." https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/humphrey-hawkins-act [^2]: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, *FOMC meeting calendars and information* — Federal Reserve primary publication listed in the project catalogue. https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/fomccalendars.htm [^3]: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, *FOMC historical materials by year* — Federal Reserve primary publication listed in the project catalogue. https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/fomc_historical_year.htm [^4]: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, *FOMC press release and materials* (June 10, 2020) — the June 10, 2020 FOMC materials listed in the project catalogue. https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/monetary20200610a.htm [^5]: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, *EEOC v. Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond*, 698 F.2d 633 (1983) — the reported decision and its citation. https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/37816/eeoc-v-federal-reserve-bank-of-richmond/ [^6]: The White House, *Establishing the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud* (March 2026) — the presidential action to which both at-issue pairs are anchored. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/03/establishing-the-task-force-to-eliminate-fraud/