Twin bills, from father and son
Dr. Ron Paul (R-TX) is back at it, reintroducing legislation in the House to audit the Fed. However, not only is he taking this bull by the horns as newly-appointed chair of the Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy (which includes responsibility for Fed oversight), but he’s now got a new ally in his son, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), who has at the same time also introduced a Senate version of Fed-audit legislation.
According to the Wall Street Journal:
“‘We must take a critical look at the Fed’s monetary policy decisions, discount window operations, and a host of other things, with a real audit–and not just pay lip-service to the idea of an audit,’ Sen. Paul said in a statement. ‘It is more crucial than ever that we have real transparency at our own central bank.’
“Sen. Paul said the bill would eliminate the current audit restrictions placed on the Government Accountability Office and mandate a complete audit of the Federal Reserve by a deadline. Sen. Paul joined the Senate as a freshman lawmaker in January. His father, Rep. Paul, has been in the House since 1997 and previously was a member of Congress in the 1970s and 1980s.
“Rep. Paul introduced legislation calling for the same audit of the Fed on the House side, which is similar to legislation that he has pushed for as a House lawmaker. As part of the financial regulatory overhaul, Rep. Paul wanted to give congress the power to audit the fed’s interest rate decisions. But the measure never made it in the final version of the bill.”
The original legislation did receive early support from some other members of Congress, but at the time never managed to garner the full attention it deserved as part of the also controversial financial regulation behemoth. After going through that legislative process any remnant of his initial bill was essentially declawed. Odds are both Pauls will keep as intense a spotlight on the issue as they can, and for as long as they have that ability. You can read more details in the Wall Street Journal’s coverage of Rand and Ron Paul introducing twin Fed-audit bills.
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