Federal Reserve Accountability Act An Unacceptable Compromise
Posted by Gary Howard on 10/20/09 4:26 PM
Washington D.C. October 20, 2009 -Today, Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Bob Corker (R-TN) introduced the Federal Reserve Accountability Act, an attempted compromise on the issue of transparency for America's secretive central bank. The bill would permit an audit of the Fed's actions in the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and similar high profile bailouts, but would not allow Congress to review the Fed's inflation of the money supply or the its agreements with foreign central banks.
Legislation that would bring a full audit of the Fed, Congressman Ron Paul's H.R. 1207 and its Senate companion S. 604, has gained strong grassroots support and built tremendous pressure on banking special interests.
Opponents of Fed Transparency argue that a full audit of the Federal Reserve would damage the central bank's "independence" and allow Congress to dictate monetary policy.
"Claims that transparency at the Federal Reserve would leave Congress in charge of monetary policy are simply bogus," said Jesse Benton, Senior Vice President of Campaign for Liberty. "There is absolutely no reason why The American People should not be able to review the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee after a reasonable amount of time has passed."
"The Federal Reserve Accountability Act does not audit the monetary policy functions which have been responsible for our deteriorating dollar and so many of our current economic problems, and it is not an acceptable piece of legislation. Campaign for Liberty will continue to push for a full audit of the Fed."
The announcement of the new legislation comes after the number of cosponsors in the House of Representatives for H.R. 1207 recently climbed to 303, and S. 604 gained 30 senate cosponsors. Campaign for Liberty has been leading the grassroots effort on H.R .1207, getting it to its current point with 75% of Americans showing support for a thorough audit of the Federal Reserve.
SOURCE: http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog.php?view=26686
Dr. Paul in Politico: "The Fed Should Be More Transparent"
Posted by Jesse Benton on 10/19/09 11:05 AM
A major Op-Ed by our honorary chairman:
Quote:
|
While I oppose giving the Fed any additional power, even members who support an expansion should support dealing with the crucial issue of Fed oversight - before proposals for giving the Fed additional power as a regulator of the financial system are discussed. Using Section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act, the Fed has gone on the warpath over the past two years. It has involved itself in direct financial support to individual firms such as Bear Stearns and American International Group, has developed new credit facilities to funnel money to numerous other financial companies and has boosted its balance sheet to more than $2 trillion - secure in the knowledge that the legal blocks put in place in 31 U.S.C. 714 to prevent GAO audits of the most significant of the Fed's actions will hide it from any serious oversight. For an organization with arguably as much clout as the rest of the federal government put together to be able to escape significant oversight is a situation that needs to be rectified immediately.
|
Read the rest here:
http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.c...153AF291774F1E
SOURCE: http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog.php?view=26624
Two US Senators Seek Audit Of Federal Reserve
By Michael R. Crittenden, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
10/20/2009
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Two members of the U.S. Senate panel with oversight of the Federal Reserve are pushing for an audit of the extensive lending programs put in place by the central bank over the last year.
Sens. Jeff Merkley (D., Ore.) and Bob Corker (R., Tenn.) introduced legislation Tuesday that would give government auditors the ability to audit the Fed's lending programs and eventually provide the names of firms that participated in the programs.
Merkley said in a statement released by his office that the Fed had contributed greatly do the stabilization of financial markets, but in doing so had moved away from its traditional role as arbiter of monetary policy.
"Such a significant change in the Federal Reserve's traditional activities demands responsible, robust oversight," Merkley said.
The move by Merkley and Corker mirrors a similar effort in the House of Representatives that has received growing support in recent months. Rep. Ron Paul (R., Texas) introduced a similar bill in February that has 303 cosponsors.
The Senate measure would allow the Government Accountability Office to audit any emergency lending programs that it currently is not authorized to review. Auditors would be required to redact the names of specific institutions, but the names would be released one year after each emergency program is ended, the statement said.
"We give the Government Accountability Office the authority to audit the Fed's emergency credit facilities without inappropriately compromising the independence of the Fed or politicizing its role in crafting monetary policy," Corker said.
-By Michael R. Crittenden, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9273;
michael.crittenden@dowjones.com
SOURCE: http://www.campaignforliberty.com/wire.php?view=8175
Dr. Paul CNN Interview
Posted by Jesse Benton on 10/20/09 08:41 AM
Dr. Paul on CNN American Morning talks about the Federal Reserve and Wall Street Bonuses.
VIDEO (7:05): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHGzWFyYGNw
SOURCE: http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog.php?view=26634