12 U.S.C. § 290 — Use of earnings transferred to the Treasurytransferred

The United States earns net income from Federal Reserve Banks. The Secretary decides, at his discretion, how to use that money. The Secretary can use it to add to the gold reserve that backs outstanding United States notes. Or the Secretary can use it to pay down the government's outstanding bonded debt, following regulations the Secretary of the Treasury writes. If a Federal Reserve Bank is dissolved or goes into liquidation, its leftover money is handled differently. First, the bank pays off all its debts. Then it pays the dividends required elsewhere in the law. Then it pays back the par value of its stock. Whatever surplus remains after that becomes the property of the United States. That surplus is then used the same way — to supplement the gold reserve or reduce the government's bonded debt.