The legislation's aim, according to its sponsor,[2] was To create a full employment economy as a matter of national economic defense; to provide for public investment in capital infrastructure; to provide for reducing the cost of public investment; to retire public debt; to stabilize the Social Security retirement system; to restore the authority of Congress to create and regulate money, modernize and provide stability for the monetary system of the United States; and for other public purposes.According to the Congressional Research Service, a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress, the NEED Act, in brief, would[2] replace "Federal Reserve notes" with "United States Money" and dismantle the Fed.
As far back as 1943, Abba Lerner had dismissed such arguments, pointing out that the central bank can, at any time, start "printing money" to match government deficit-spending "sufficient to achieve and sustain full employment.
"[a] Post Keynesian economists, such as L. Randall Wray, have argued repeatedly on the "foolishness" of notions such as promoted by the NEED Act,[12][13] pointing out that if money does not represent debt, in the form of a tax credit, then it is useless.
[b][c] Economist and investor Warren Mosler has pointed out that the NEED Act is an "innocent fraud," because it undertakes to end a system that has ceased to exist a long time ago.
[d] The United States House Financial Services Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology held hearings on the NEED Act.