Ron Paul may not have his shining moment at the Republican National Convention this year, but today he had his moment on the Hill with passage of his bill to audit the Fed.
The Texas Republican’s Federal Reserve Transparency Act which calls for a full audit of the Federal Reserve System — including its lending facilities and critical monetary policy operations — passed 327-98.
Paul’s bill not only got support from centrist Democrats, but some members of the Progressive Caucus such as co-chairman Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Maxine Waters (D-Calif.). Democratic leaders in the House, however, voted no.
“It has been a long, hard fight, but Congress finally is getting serious about exercising its oversight responsibility over the Federal Reserve. Auditing the Fed is a common sense issue supported by the overwhelming majority of the American people,” said Paul.
“The Fed’s trillions of dollars worth of asset purchases and its ongoing support of foreign central banks cannot be allowed to continue without Congressional oversight,” he added. “Today’s passage of H.R. 459 is a good first step towards full Fed transparency, and I hope that the Senate will consider the bill before the end of the year.”
Rep. Paul’s son immediately took up the charge to get that Senate.
“I also congratulate my father, Rep. Ron Paul, who has long fought at the vanguard of this movement when he first introduced Audit the Fed in 1983. Now with 271 co-sponsors and having passed the House, I call upon Democrat leadership to allow a vote in the Senate on this much-needed transparency bill,” said Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).
Sen. Paul introduced in the Senate companion legislation to Rep. Paul’s bill in January 2011.
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