Good news! It doesn’t appear that an audit of the Federal Reserve is off the table. In fact, it may actually see some movement next year. According to Reuters, Representative Ron Paul has promised to examine the Fed’s monetary policy decisions if he becomes Chairman of the Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Financial Services Committee. Currently, Paul serves as the Subcommittee’s Ranking Member, and he will likely assume the top leadership spot now that Republicans have captured the House majority.
Representative Paul has long been an outspoken critic of the Federal Reserve, but he believes swift action is especially critical now due to the Fed’s increasing power and independence. Most recently, the financial reform bill awarded the Fed with authority to implement 30 new regulations that will further augment the size and scope of our federal government.
We have vehemently opposed legislation that would confer more power upon a Federal Reserve which repeatedly either failed to detect or made worse problems in the financial sector. Conversely, we have endorsed legislation that would authorize a comprehensive audit. Here are links to two Vote Alerts (here and here) we distributed in support of Senate amendments to the financial reform legislation. Both amendments would have conducted an audit of the Fed, but, unfortunately, they were defeated.
Here’s hoping a conservative-led House will have better luck! We commend Representative Paul’s work on this issue and look forward to working with him to restore much-needed scrutiny and accountability to the Federal Reserve. American taxpayers deserve to know more about the workings of a government-sanctioned entity whose decisions directly affect their economic livelihood.