To help relieve the pressures in the interbank markets, the Federal Reserve among other actions recently introduced a term auction facility (TAF), through which prespecified amounts of discount window credit can be auctioned to eligible borrowers, and we have been working closely and cooperatively with other central banks to address market strains that could hamper the achievement of our broader economic objectives.

NPR: Economic Swoon to Continue, Bernanke Says

To break this vicious circle, the Fed last year instituted its term auction facility, as an alternative to loans from the so-called discount window.

FORBES: Fed Reaches Into Its Toolbox