Rep. Paul, Sen. DeMint: Congress must authorize Fed audit

Two Republican lawmakers on Thursday renewed their calls for a prompt and thorough audit of the Federal Reserve Board.

In an op-ed published this morning in The Wall Street Journal, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tx.) and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) stressed that the board, which possesses the vast responsibility of managing the country's monetary policy, was in dire need of more transparency.

To ensure openness, the lawmakers repeated their calls for an amendment that would subject the Fed to periodic evaluations. The proposal would also require the board to publish previously unreleased audit data on a six-month time delay, to ensure the Government Accountability Office's (GAO) findings do not jeopardize the Fed's ability to regulate.

"As strong opponents of government intervention into the economy, we do not want to see Congress directly dictate monetary policy," Paul and DeMint wrote. "But while the Fed is involved so heavily in monetary policy and its actions so heavily influence the future of our economy, it is necessary that it be fully transparent."

Efforts to audit the Federal Reserve have met skepticism from the board's members, mostly because they view it as a threat to the independent body's autonomy and ability to regulate monetary policy.

Still, a smattering of Democratic and Republican lawmakers seem to agree that an audit policy is necessary to ensure the Fed is spending money, monitoring interest rates and overseeing bailout funds wisely.

Paul, in particular, has long spearheaded that effort in the House, and he introduced his Audit the Fed bill alongside Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fl.) earlier this year, to mixed political support.

But an effort pending congressional action as early as today threatens to kill Paul's work. That less-strict amendment, authored by Rep. Mel Watt (D-N.C.), would impose new limits on how audits could be conducted and what kinds of documents and proceedings the GAO could examine and release.

So far, a handful of lawmakers and pundits -- including Dean Baker, author Naomi Klein, the AFL-CIO's Richard Trumka and SEIU's Andy Stern -- have fired back at Watt's effort. They noted in a letter on Thursday that the amendment, which could come to a vote as early as today, was tantamount to "a vote for more secret bailouts."