Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) wants congressional action: “It’s time for us to know how the Fed makes its decisions.”
In an op-ed for Fox Business, Paul slammed the Federal Reserve as “a behemoth agency with the ability to manipulate and control the entire American economy. Our jobs, our finances, our savings and, ultimately, our livelihoods — all of them are subject to the decisions made at the Fed.” Except that the Fed is allowed to make these decisions secretively and without transparency to the American public.
Our country is $37 trillion in debt because the government spends like a drunken pirate, no matter which party is in charge. However, as Paul emphasized, the Fed shares some blame for our unstable and unsustainable fiscal situation. For instance, “No one pays attention to the hundreds of billions of dollars the Fed unnecessarily paid to banks to not lend money to consumers,” Paul noted. “Today’s interest rate is over 4% and, subsequently, the Fed’s subsidy to banks skyrocketed.”
In 2022, the Fed paid nearly $60 billion to banks. In 2023, the Fed payments to banks rose to over $176 billion, and in 2024, the Fed’s subsidy to banks rose to about $186 billion. And 44% of these subsidies are paid to foreign banks.
And that is why Paul says that there are 186 billion reasons to audit the Fed.
Jerome Powell just argued with Donald Trump on live TV about the outrageous cost of the new Fed building that is being nicknamed “the Swamp’s Versailles” for its billions of dollars in budgeting and fancy features. It seems an appropriate time to put Powell out of a job so he can experience the unemployment that he was so eager to bring on Americans through importing illegal alien labor.
If Jerome Powell going to lower interest rates, there's a possibility he can make up with President Trump, but spending money on the new Fed building, nicknamed "The Swamp's Versailles," is a waste of taxpayer dollars and I'm glad President Trump is calling it out. pic.twitter.com/sNG5aot7QU
— Mercedes Schlapp (@mercedesschlapp) July 28, 2025
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Paul argued that the Fed’s “opacity” is deliberate, designed to protect the officials who make bad decisions for America. Not only that, the Fed has been operating at a loss since 2022, Paul accused.
Furthermore, Paul emphasized that the COVID-19 lockdowns illustrated both the extent of the Fed's power and the potential damage it can cause. “The Fed printed money, purchased government-backed securities, and doled out massive amounts of money to favored industries. These actions added almost $5 trillion in debt to the Fed’s balance sheet,” he wrote.
Partly, this op-ed was self-promotion, of course, because Paul has introduced legislation to audit the Fed. But he is not the only dissatisfied individual. Many Americans are disgusted at the $2.5 billion renovations the Fed is lavishing on its offices, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said we need to “examine the entire Federal Reserve institution and whether they have been successful[.] Has the organization succeeded in its mission? … All these PhDs over there, I don’t know what they do.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent: “We need to examine the entire Federal Reserve institution and whether they have been successful. All these PhDs over there, I don’t know what they do. This is like Universal Basic Income for academic economists.” pic.twitter.com/hVQ4TlZgAo
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) July 21, 2025
Of course, that comment could apply to numerous bureaucrats, both within and outside the federal government. That is why the country is in the state it's in.
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