The bill still faces substantial hurdles in becoming law, of course, but yesterday's vote has made that outcome quite possible, and it's worth noting several important points highlighted by what happened here:
(1) Our leading media outlets are capable of understanding political debates only by stuffing them into melodramatic, trite and often distracting "right v. left" storylines. While some debates fit comfortably into that framework, many do not. Anger over the Wall Street bailouts, the control by the banking industry of Congress, and the impenetrable secrecy with which the Fed conducts itself resonates across the political spectrum, as the truly bipartisan and trans-ideological vote yesterday reflects. Populist anger over elite-favoring economic policies has long been brewing on both the Right and Left (and in between), but neither political party can capitalize on it because they're both dependent upon and subservient to the same elite interests which benefit from those policies.
For that reason, many of the most consequential political conflicts are shaped far more by an "insider v. outsider" dichotomy than by a "GOP v. Democrat" or "Left v. Right" split. The pillaging of America's economic security by financial elites, with the eager assistance of the government officials who they own and who serve them, is the prime example of such a conflict. The political system as a whole -- both parties' leadership -- is owned and controlled by a handful of key industry interests, and anger over the fact is found across the political spectrum. Yesterday's vote is a very rare example where the true nature of political power was expressed and the petty distractions and artificial fault lines overcome.
(2) As Grim expertly describes, the effort to defeat the Paul/Grayson amendment came from all of the typical Washington power centers using all of the establishment's typical manipulative tools.
Posted by Matt Hawes on 11/20/09 Last updated 11/20/09
In addition to the stories mentioned in Gary's earlier post, also be sure to check out an article in today's Washington Post titled "Angry Congress lashes out at Obama."
The article deals mostly with the ongoing battles in Congress over financial regulatory "reform" - one of President Obama's higher priorities. (Still "more of the same.")
But also included in the article is a little write-up on a certain amendment:
Perhaps most troubling for the administration was that one of the few measures to succeed Thursday was an amendment by Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) that would subject the Federal Reserve to unprecedented scrutiny....
Let's be clear, though. An audit of the Federal Reserve has nothing to do with lashing out at Obama, or lashing out at anyone for that matter. It's about implementing historic, long overdue reforms to give the American people full information about what is being done with their money.
Update: The amendment's passage is the lead story in today's print version of The Wall Street Journal!
Posted by MarceloMunoz on 11/20/09 Last updated 11/19/09
Birmingham, AL (November 17, 2009) Over 250 people showed up Tuesday, November 10 for the Alabama Campaign for Liberty Straw Poll and Gubernatorial Forum, co-sponsored by the 10,000 member strong Rainy Day Patriots. The event was held at Matthew's Manor in Springville, Alabama, home of the Conservative Patriots Club, and who assisted with the event. The number of attendees was spectacular considering that Tropical Storm Ida was directly overhead at forum start time. Since the forum was broadcast live on WAPI 1070 AM to the Greater Birmingham area, many chose to listen from home instead of attending.
The event was a very enlightening evening which was not without some controversy. One of the candidates in the race, Mr. Bradley Byrne, cancelled his appearance on Friday, November 6, a mere five days before he was scheduled to appear. His campaign indicated that they had a conflict in schedules. The controversy arose from the fact that their campaign had committed to attend a month earlier, was in constant communication with the organizers, and even confirmed their appearance less than 24 hrs before cancelling. We must note that Mr. Byrne was scheduled to be in the Birmingham area throughout the week at other events. Mr. Byrne also cancelled his interview with Matt Murphy of the Matt Murphy Show on 1070AM scheduled for Wednesday morning. The expected topic was the prior night's forum. To date the only explanation he has given is that he was at a "private event."
This perceived slight did not go unnoticed by those in attendance and the listening audience who flooded WAPI's phone lines with complaints and less than kind words for Mr. Byrne and his campaign. The political turmoil this created was such that Mr. Byrne appeared on Matt's show on Thursday morning to, among other things, explain his absence from the forum to incensed voters.
The gubernatorial candidates that did participate were Dr. Robert Bentley (R), Tim James (R), and Bill Johnson (R). Prior to and after the event, the candidates made themselves available for a meet and greet with supporters and the general public.
A special thanks go to Matt Murphy for his excellent moderation of this event. The panel that consisted of Zan Green (President of the Rainy Day Patriots), Marcelo Munoz (Campaign for Liberty) and Matt Murphy (1070AM) posed their questions to the candidates, which covered the Constitution, state rights and other important issues for the State of Alabama. The audience was also given the opportunity to submit questions. Some of the issues covered were home schooling, abortion, gambling, and stimulus money. After the debate, a gubernatorial preference straw poll was conducted with the candidates obtaining the following results:
Tim James 75% Robert Bentley 14% Bill Johnson 7% Bradley Byrne 4%
This was a great forum for getting to know the candidates and make an informed decision in the upcoming very important 2010 Gubernatorial election. The candidates were so pleased that all three committed to attend other Campaign for Liberty events in the upcoming months in cities such as Tuscaloosa, Mobile, Montgomery, Decatur and Huntsville.
By all accounts, the event was a huge success. Thanks to Kristin Brantley, Linda and Mack Gowder, The Rainy Day Patriots and all of the many volunteers who gave up their time to help in making this a very successful event!! Thanks also go to Mr. Matthews and the Conservative Patriots Club for allowing us to have this event at Matthews Manor.
Below is a video link to part 1 of 17 of the Forum.
Below is a link to a picasa album of the event< br />http://picasaweb.google.com/rainydaypatriots/RainyDayPatriotsGubernatorialForumSpring villeALNov102009?feat=content_notification#
Reported by Marcelo D. Muñoz, Alabama Campaign for Liberty Interim State Coordinator. Deanna Frankowski of the Rainy Day Patriots contributed to this report.
Posted by Gary Howard on 11/20/09 Last updated 11/20/09
Below is just a sampling of the coverage that the adoption of the Audit the Fed amendment has received in the last 24 hours.Included are some links and excerpts:
A key House panel on Thursday approved an amendment offered by Rep. Ron Paul (R., Texas) to give federal watchdogs massive new authority to audit the Federal Reserve.
The measure, based on a Paul proposal that has attracted more than 300 co-sponsors, passed, 43-26, as an amendment to a financial reform bill. Florida Democrat and fellow Fed critic Alan Grayson co-sponsored the amendment with Paul and played a leading role drumming up support for it among committee members. The adoption of this amendment is an extraordinary victory for Paul, whose libertarian, anti-Fed leanings have often been dismissed by the political establishment.
"If you care about transparency of the Fed, you would allow a look at monetary policy," Paul said. "We're dealing with trillions of dollars that doesn't get audited. There is no reason why the world can't know, eventually, what the Fed is doing."
"If we get the audit and get the books open, make them answer the questions, I am convinced that the American people will be so outraged that then we will have reform of the monetary system," Paul has said.
Mr. Paul's bill would abolish a longstanding exemption that shielded the Fed from Congressional audits of its monetary policy. Supporters of the Fed's independence have argued the shield provided crucial insulation from political pressure, which would make it much harder for Fed officials to take unpopular action aimed at heading off inflation.
And of course, the defenders of the Fed were out in force (all of them former Fed employees by the way):
Greenspan and Volcker, in a letter sent to the committee's chairman and ranking Republicans, warned that the provision threatened the ability of the Fed to foster price stability independent of political interference.
WASHINGTON-November 20, 2009 -During the House Financial Services Committee markup of the Financial Stability Improvement Act of 2009, Congressman Ron Paul's (R-TX) amendment to increase Federal Reserve transparency was passed by a vote of 43 to 26.
During the proceeding, parallel amendments were introduced, one by Paul, the other by Congressman Mel Watt (D-NC), which would have limited the audit to only a narrow examination of TARP funds and lending powers, and would have actually allowed the Fed to increase the secrecy under which they operate when it comes to setting monetary policy.
Rep. Paul's amendment inserted language that replaced Watt's, and is similar to that in his bill, H.R. 1207, which is co-sponsored by 311 members of the House of Representatives. The bill would allow for a full Government Accountability Office (GAO) audit of the Federal Reserve including emergency lending facilities, past decisions on setting interest rates and agreements with foreign central banks.
"We are happy to see the Financial Services Committee preserve a measure to bring true Fed transparency," said John Tate, President of Campaign for Liberty. "This amendment helps to ensure that real and complete audit legislation remains unaltered, and from here on out we will continue to push for a standalone floor vote of H.R. 1207."
Congressman Paul's amendment was greeted with a great deal of support, among those who strongly advocated for the amendment included Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL), who defended the measure throughout the proceeding and also voted for adoption of the amendment.
Thanks to your quick action in contacting Congress, the House Financial Services Committee earlier today rejected Representative Mel Watt's attempt to hijack Audit the Fed by voting 43-26 to pass Ron Paul's amendment to the financial regulatory reform bill.
Dr. Paul called me right after the vote to personally express his thanks to C4L members for all of your efforts!
It is an incredible testament to the growing power of the liberty movement that we were able to get such an audit passed by a major House committee, but this is by no means the end of our fight.
Financial Services leadership has seemed determined for several months that if an audit of the Fed were to get out of Committee, it should be attached to an overall regulatory reform package that would actually increase the powers of the Fed to interfere in our economy.
Congressman Paul's amendment gives the Government Accountability Office power to conduct a thorough audit of the Fed's entire $2 trillion balance sheet and replaces the Watt language that would have further restricted GAO audits of the Federal Reserve.
While this is a victory over an attempted hijacking of our cause, the audit authority is still being rolled into the Financial Stability Improvement Act, a bill that Campaign for Liberty will oppose.
This Act will be voted on as soon as the Committee returns from its Thanksgiving break, and we will then know if it will move to the floor.
And it's already becoming clear that Ron Paul's amendment may face challenges on the House floor.
Now is the time to turn up the pressure!
Keep contacting Congress and tell your representative that before Congress debates over giving the Fed any new powers, we need to know what they're doing with the ones they already have!
Urge your representative to support a standalone, up or down vote on Audit the Fed, H.R. 1207.
We've put too much work into this effort to see an audit bogged down in yet another Washington bureaucratic nightmare.
Make no mistake, though, the victory today proved we can get the votes to pass the thorough, historic audit we've been fighting for this past year. We have put the Federal Reserve on notice that the freedom movement is serious about reclaiming our country and that it is here to stay.
Thanks for all you do for the cause of freedom. Now, let's finish this fight!
Update: To see a live feed, go to the Financial Services website here and click on "Watch Live Meeting Webcasts"
Update #2: Roll call votes are still expected around 4 pm. Everything taken up to this point has been a voice vote. Keep calling to make sure the FSC members stick with the amendment.
Update #3: Votes are currently happening on the House floor, so the reconvening of the Committee is being delayed a bit.
Update #4: The Committee is back, but will only be voting on the amendments, not the overall regulatory reform bill.
Update #5: The Paul Amendment passed! 43-26! Thanks to everyone who made those calls!!!
"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty."
—Thomas Jefferson
Campaign for Liberty is a 501(c)4 lobbying organization which neither supports nor opposes candidates for public office and claims no responsibility for the actions of individuals or groups of individuals who use the Campaign for Liberty logo or name or who may claim to act as representatives of the Campaign for Liberty without prior written consent of the Campaign for Liberty. [?]
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