SPRINGFIELD, Virginia - Today, Campaign for Liberty Chairman Ron Paul issued the following statement today regarding Federal Reserve Chairwomen Janet Yellen’s testimony before the House and Senate Banking Committees:
“In her testimony before Congress, Janet Yellen blamed weakness in the global economy for the economy’s continuing poor performance. She also tried to reassure Congress the Fed was capable of knowing exactly the right time to raise rates to head off inflation without further slowing down economic growth. Fortunately, a growing number of Americans have realized the Federal Reserve’s polices are actually responsible for our economic problems.
“Unfortunately, this week’s hearing shows that most in Congress still do not understand the problem is not specific Fed policies, but the system of fiat currency administered by a secretive central bank. One party believes the only problem with the Fed is that it is not pumping enough money into the economy, while the other side believes the fiat monetary system can be made to work if the Fed adopts a rules-based system. But central planning of monetary policy is just as doomed to fail as all other forms of central planning- even if the central planners are forced to follow a monetary policy rule.
“Congress must start taking serious steps to address our flawed monetary system. A necessary first step is giving the people a full picture of the Fed’s operations by passing my Audit the Fed bill.”
About Audit the Fed:
Currently the GAO is prohibited by law from auditing four areas of the Federal Reserve:
• Transactions for or with a foreign central bank, government of a foreign country, or no private international financing organization;
• Deliberations, decisions, or actions on monetary policy matters, including discount window operations, reserves of member banks, securities credit, interest on deposits, and open market operations;
• Transactions made under the direction of the Federal Open Market Committee; or
• a part of a discussion or communication among or between members of the Board and officers and employees of the Federal Reserve System related to clauses (1)–(3) of this subsection.
Audit the Fed removes these four exemptions and is supported by nearly 75 percent of the American people.
Congressman Thomas Massie (R-KY) introduced “Audit the Fed” in the 114th Congress on January 6th, 2015. The bill currently has 185 bipartisan cosponsors.
The Senate held a stand-alone vote on Audit the Fed on January 12, 2016. The bill failed to reach cloture by a vote of 53-44, a largely party-line vote.
Ron Paul’s Audit the Fed bill, H.R. 459, gained 274 cosponsors and passed the House of Representatives in the 112th Congress on July 25, 2012, by an overwhelming three-fourths majority of 327-98 after a nationwide grassroots mobilization effort led by Campaign for Liberty. The legislation called for a “full audit of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Reserve banks by the Comptroller General of the United States.”
Congressman Paul Broun (R-GA) reintroduced Dr. Paul’s Audit the Fed bill in January 2013 as H.R 24, “The Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2013,” in the 113th Congress. The bill, which was cosponsored by 224 Representatives, passed the House of Representatives on September 17, 2014, by a vote of 333-92.
Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced companion legislation in both the 112th and 113th Congresses, which gained 37 and 32 cosponsors, respectively. Then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid refused to allow Audit the Fed to be brought to the floor in either Congress for a vote despite repeatedly calling for an audit of the Federal Reserve throughout his career.
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