Mr. Sunshine? Ron Paul Wins Support to Audit Fed Reserve By Judson Berger FOXNews.com
- Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Rep.
Ron Paul so far has won 245 co-sponsors to a bill that would
require a full-fledged audit of the Federal Reserve by the
end of 2010.
All
of a sudden, Congress is paying close attention to Ron Paul.
The feisty congressman from Texas, whose insurgent "Ron
Paul Revolution" presidential campaign rankled Republican
leaders last year, now has the GOP House leadership on his
side -- backing a measure that generated paltry support when
he first introduced it 26 years ago.
Paul, as of Tuesday, has won 245 co-sponsors to a bill that
would require a full-fledged audit of the Federal Reserve
by the end of 2010.
Paul attracted just 18 co-sponsors when he authored a similar
bill, which died, in 1983. While the impact Fed policies have
on inflation is once again a concern, fears about loose monetary
policy and excessive federal spending appear even more widespread
in 2009.
"In the past, I never got much support, but I think
it's the financial crisis obviously that's drawing so much
attention to it, and people want to know more about the Federal
Reserve," Paul told FOXNews.com.
With the Federal Reserve holding interest rates at rock-bottom
levels, pumping trillions into the economy and now poised
to have new powers to oversee the financial system under President
Obama's proposed regulatory overhaul, Paul said lawmakers
want transparency.
"If they give them a lot more power and there's no more
transparency, that'll be a disaster," he said.
The bill would call for the comptroller general in the Government
Accountability Office to audit the Fed and report those findings
to Congress. The GAO's ability to conduct such audits now
is severely restricted.
A slew of top Republicans are backing the bill, as are many
Democrats.
"Ron Paul has the right idea on this," said Sen.
Jim DeMint, R-S.C., who supports similar legislation in the
Senate. "I'm just hoping we can get a clear audit. ...
We need to know what they're up to."
House Republican Leader John Boehner, who signed on as a
co-sponsor this month, wrote in a recent blog post that the
"lack of transparency and accountability" regarding
federal dollars committed by the Fed and Treasury Department
raise "serious concerns" and make an audit critical.
"The Federal Reserve Transparency Act would remove all
of these restrictions, and allow GAO to get real answers from
the Federal Reserve to protect American taxpayers," Boehner
wrote.
Unfortunately for Paul, the bill appears to be idling in
the House Financial Services Committee, which is chaired by
Barney Frank, D-Mass. The bill has been sitting there, gathering
co-sponsors, since Paul introduced it in late February.
"You've kind of got to rely on the Democratic leadership
(to move the bill along)," a Boehner aide said. "I
haven't heard a lot of support from Chairman Frank."
Calls to Frank's office were not returned.
Paul acknowledged that his bill hasn't advanced but said
Frank has "promised" him he will deal with his bill
and is willing to give it a hearing. Paul said it's easily
got the "momentum" to pass the full House.
A representative with the Federal Reserve could not be reached
for comment.
Obama, though, voiced confidence in Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke
last Tuesday and defended the Fed's overall ability to regulate
effectively as well as his proposal to give the body more
power.
"If you look at what we've proposed, we are not so much
expanding the Fed's power as we are focusing what the Fed
needs to do to prevent the kinds of crises that are happening
again," Obama said. "We want that power to be available
so that taxpayers aren't on the hook."
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., introduced a bill similar to
Paul's in the Senate in March, which so far has attracted
just three co-sponsors -- DeMint and Republican Sens. David
Vitter of Louisiana and Mike Crapo of Idaho.
But DeMint told FOX News last week that the measure would
have a good chance of passing the Senate if supporters can
push Paul's to a vote, which he said would be successful,
in the House.
"I think if we can get that much attention on this bill,
I don't believe senators could vote against it, if people
knew what they were voting for because everyone is suspicious
of the Federal Reserve," DeMint said.
Paul's underlying goal is to abolish the Federal Reserve,
which he finds contemptible.
"I blame almost everything on the Fed because they create
the bubbles, they create the credit," Paul said.
But the move to require an audit, which Paul described as
"neutral," puts him a bit more in the congressional
mainstream.
That's a change of pace. The long-time congressman's GOP
primary bid was decidedly outside the mainstream. His campaign
drew enthusiastic support last year, and though it wasn't
enough to pose an electoral threat to the top candidates,
he even staged his own September counter-convention in Minneapolis
-- down the road from the official Republican National Convention
in St. Paul. His "Rally for the Republic" drew more
than 10,000 supporters and was complete with a rock band and
a slew of faux-delegates wielding signs for their states.
Paul frequently plays the role of party and congressional
outsider. Most recently, he was the lone "no" vote
on last Friday's resolution to condemn the Iranian government's
crackdown on protesters.
He cited constitutional concerns in that vote, as he has
in his criticism of the Fed and a slew of other issues.
"The whole process is unconstitutional. There is no
legal authority to operate such a monetary system," Paul
said in February, in a statement calling for Washington to
"end the Fed." He introduced the Federal Reserve
Transparency Act the following day.