Where did the money go?
I thought Bernanke gave as clear an answer to the ignorant lawyer/politician as he possibly could. The money was traded to national central banks for Euros (and the like) with interest.
Many commodities (oil, for example) are traded in dollars. Its very nice to not have to muck up basic trades with currency fluctuations. Additionally, many countries peg their money to the dollar. They use dollars as their 'gold standard'.
And, Congress has NO authority over the money supply - thank God. A chump like this D from Florida would be using his legal background to churn up even more fiat money and dumping it on the poor and disadvantaged and Hollywood and wind farms and Gay Day in San Francisco. Then he would have to design a fine sticker to apply to the greenback when it devalues even more.
By the way, I wish I had made that trade. The dollar has lost value to most currencies.