Rep. Paul's 'audit the Fed' bill expected on House floor this month

A bill requiring a full audit of the Federal Reserve Board — including the Fed's open market operations that determine interest rates — is expected to be considered on the House floor sometime in late July.

The Federal Reserve Transparency Act, H.R. 459, has 263 co-sponsors, and was approved by the house Committee on Government Oversight and Reform last week. Paul called it a major victory that should set up floor consideration of the bill by late July, before Congress leaves for its August break.

"This is an unprecedented opportunity for transparency into how the currency of the United States is handled, and mishandled by the Federal Reserve," Paul said this week.

Paul is one of Congress's harshest critics of the Fed, in particular because of its simultaneous creation of new money that devalues the dollar, and the use of this money to help bail out Wall Street firms.

Under current law, Congress cannot audit the Fed's monetary policy decisions, even though the Fed's own financial statements are audited annually.

According to Paul, the Dodd-Frank law of 2010 allowed for audits of the Fed's emergency credit programs, but Paul argues that this addition still does not give Congress the full picture it needs.

"H.R. 459 does not limit the focus of the audit, making a full audit finally possible," he said. "An entity that controls the value and purchasing power of the dollar should not be permitted to operate in the dark without oversight by Congress and accountability to the people."

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