"Fed pays US Treasury record $78.4B last year"

"The payment to the Treasury Department is the largest since the Fed began operating in 1914. It surpasses the previous record $47.4 billion paid in 2009, the Fed said Monday.

The bigger payment mostly came from more income generated by the Fed's massive portfolio of securities, which includes Treasury debt and mortgage securities.

Where did the Federal Reserve get the money to purchase its "massive portfolio"?

The Fed is funded from interest earned on its portfolio of securities.

So the more assets the Fed purhchases,
the more it can transfer to the Treasury Department?

 It is not funded by Congress.

After covering its expenses, the Fed gives what is left over to the Treasury Department.

...Such income rose largely because the Fed bought a greater number of securities.

In early November, the Fed launched a program to bolster the economy by purchasing $600 billion worth of Treasury debt through June.

Where did the $600 billion come from?

...Republicans in Congress and others have criticized the program, saying the Fed is printing money to pay for the U.S. government's swollen deficits and debt.

To fight the financial crisis and lift the country out of recession, the Fed bought $1.4 trillion of mortgage-backed securities and mortgage debt as well as up to $300 billion worth of government debt.

...The purchase programs have helped boost the value of securities held by the Fed.

So if the Fed didn't buy securities with prentend payments,
values would have fallen?

...The Fed's balance sheet now stands at $2.4 trillion, nearly triple its size from before the financial and economic crises.

Jeannine Aversa