Posted by Matt Hawes on 03/04/09 11:51 AM Last updated 03/04/09 11:51 AM   [Newer: Ron Paul: The End of the Iraq War is Not Near, 3/4/09] [Older: Bernanke Dodges Transparency Again (aka: Have you contacted your congressman about HR 1207 yet?)]

Momentum continues to build for Dr. Paul's legislation to audit the Federal Reserve!  The title is "The Federal Reserve Transparency Act," and the bill currently has 11 cosponsors:

- Rep. Neil Abercrombie [HI-1]
- Rep. Michele Bachmann [MN-6]
- Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett [MD-6]
- Rep. Paul Broun [GA-10]
- Rep. Dan Burton [IN-5]
- Rep. Walter Jones, Jr. [NC-3]
- Rep. Steve Kagen [WI-8]
- Rep. Ted Poe [TX-2]
- Rep. Bill Posey [FL-15]
- Rep. Denny Rehberg [MT]
- Rep. Lynn Woolsey [CA-6]

Here's Dr. Paul's statement introducing the bill:

Madam Speaker, I rise to introduce the Federal Reserve Transparency Act. Throughout its nearly 100-year history, the Federal Reserve has presided over the near-complete destruction of the United States dollar. Since 1913 the dollar has lost over 95% of its purchasing power, aided and abetted by the Federal Reserve's loose monetary policy. How long will we as a Congress stand idly by while hard-working Americans see their savings eaten away by inflation? Only big-spending politicians and politically favored bankers benefit from inflation.

Serious discussion of proposals to oversee the Federal Reserve is long overdue. I have been a longtime proponent of more effective oversight and auditing of the Fed, but I was far from the first Congressman to advocate these types of proposals. Esteemed former members of the Banking Committee such as Chairmen Wright Patman and Henry B. Gonzales were outspoken critics of the Fed and its lack of transparency.

Since its inception, the Federal Reserve has always operated in the shadows, without sufficient scrutiny or oversight of its operations. While the conventional excuse is that this is intended to reduce the Fed's susceptibility to political pressures, the reality is that the Fed acts as a foil for the government. Whenever you question the Fed about the strength of the dollar, they will refer you to the Treasury, and vice versa. The Federal Reserve has, on the one hand, many of the privileges of government agencies, while retaining benefits of private organizations, such as being insulated from Freedom of Information Act requests.

The Federal Reserve can enter into agreements with foreign central banks and foreign governments, and the GAO is prohibited from auditing or even seeing these agreements. Why should a government-established agency, whose police force has federal law enforcement powers, and whose notes have legal tender status in this country, be allowed to enter into agreements with foreign powers and foreign banking institutions with no oversight? Particularly when hundreds of billions of dollars of currency swaps have been announced and implemented, the Fed's negotiations with the European Central Bank, the Bank of International Settlements, and other institutions should face increased scrutiny, most especially because of their significant effect on foreign policy. If the State Department were able to do this, it would be characterized as a rogue agency and brought to heel, and if a private individual did this he might face prosecution under the Logan Act, yet the Fed avoids both fates.

More importantly, the Fed's funding facilities and its agreements with the Treasury should be reviewed. The Treasury's supplementary financing accounts that fund Fed facilities allow the Treasury to funnel money to Wall Street without GAO or Congressional oversight. Additional funding facilities, such as the Primary Dealer Credit Facility and the Term Securities Lending Facility, allow the Fed to keep financial asset prices artificially inflated and subsidize poorly performing financial firms.

The Federal Reserve Transparency Act would eliminate restrictions on GAO audits of the Federal Reserve and open Fed operations to enhanced scrutiny. We hear officials constantly lauding the benefits of transparency and especially bemoaning the opacity of the Fed, its monetary policy, and its funding facilities. By opening all Fed operations to a GAO audit and calling for such an audit to be completed by the end of 2010, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act would achieve much-needed transparency of the Federal Reserve. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Posted 03/04/09 12:33 PM paulsjv Austin, TX

How many sponsors/co-sponsors does this bill need for it to move forward?

Posted 03/04/09 1:21 PM RobPepe Pennsburg, PA

Thanks Matt! Time to turn up the heat on the committee members! Here they are: http://www.opencongress.org/committee/show/159_house_financial_services FYI for those that have never met him, here is the link to a video featuring Matt Hawes at the Campaign for Liberty's Liberty Forum: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT_vU3i3xAw Your friend in liberty, robpatozz

Posted 03/04/09 1:23 PM Jesse Benton Clute, TX

Paul, there is no precise answer to your question. Basically, the more the better.

Posted 03/04/09 1:26 PM Fenian Minuteman Nevada County, CA

This would be a major step in the right direction. I have notified my congressman, now it's your turn!

Posted 03/04/09 1:31 PM bphenry Coppell, TX

I have already contacted my rep on HR1207, but have not heard back from him on the subject. I was thinking today that maybe we should put pressure on our respective states to adhere to the U.S. Constitution, particularly Article I Section 10. Demand that they coin money but coin only gold and silver. If we could get one state to do this and the federal government tries to stop the state from coining money then the state could challenge the constitutionality of the Federal Reserve System and the fiat dollar. I would then think that all the rest of the states would fall in line and start coining gold and silver.

Posted 03/04/09 2:08 PM libertyspirit Modesto, CA

The chairman of the committe decides if the bill moves forward. This is information given to me by Suzie in Congressman Radonovich's office (District 19 CA). Radonovich has not decided yet if he will co-sponsor. His assistant, Spenser, is the one to talk to if you have specific questions/statements for the Congressman. I had to leave a message on voicemail, so hopefully he will get back to me soon. I did advocate that if he did not want to hold the FED accountable to transparency, then the other option he had is to support going back to the gold/silver standard which would take manipulation of money away from the FED. I stressed that he did take an oath of office to uphold the constitution. Thanks for the idea bphenry.

Posted 03/04/09 2:19 PM Tom Leser Melbourne, FL

Bill Posey is my representative, and this is his 1st term in Congress. It was interesting because in the primaries myself and other liberty-minded individuals supported an independent Frank Zilaitis who was listed on paulcongress.com. Frank campaigned his butt off and got about 6% of the vote. I am proud of Congressman Posey. Not only is he on this bill, but he has a Constitutionally perfect voting record of NO so far that matches Dr. Paul's. I am glad that I can say "I was wrong about him".

Posted 03/04/09 2:46 PM TakingBackTheGOP Livermore, CA

Attention: Several members of the Alameda County Republican Party, which has a majority presence of Ron Paul supporters, presented a Resolution in support of H.R. 1207! The Resolution has been taken under consideration and will be voted on at the March 17th monthly meeting. Check us out here... http://www.alamedagop.org Lets us know if you support the passage of the Resolution by the Alameda County Republican Party. walter@alamedagop.org

Posted 03/04/09 4:07 PM gwydion75 Sunland, CA

I got a very disappointing and unrelated canned response from Rep Brad Sherman of CA27. I'm disappointed but immediately wrote a followup. If I get another auto-response, I will visit his office tomorrow.

Posted 03/04/09 4:34 PM fidnado Los Angeles, CA

I asked all my friends and family on facebook to join the group http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=57721437230 and 20 of them did in the last few hours. Send some email and post some blogs.. invite friends on facebook and myspace to join causes. Ron Paul has started an action and it's our turn to move. Also, Barney Franks' constituents in Massachusetts need to be writing him incessantly because he's got the ultimate say whether this bill get's voted on, no?? Can someone here at C4L reach our members in his district to specifically request this??

Posted 03/04/09 5:09 PM nofivecent Urbana, IL

We'll see what Rep. Timothy V. Johnson has to say.

Posted 03/04/09 7:29 PM MRoCkEd Cheshire, CT

Contacted my rep about this

Posted 03/04/09 7:30 PM StevenBrenize Shippensburg, PA

This is the letter i sent, and then i enclosed a copy of the bill. First I would like to applaud you for voting no on the recent stimulus bill. As a tax-payer I hope that your vote on this was not just one based on party lines and more a vote based on your understanding of the disastrous effects of spending more of ‘our’ money to fix this economic recession. We cannot spend our way out of a situation that was caused by spending. That said the purpose of contacting you is to ask you to co-sponsor a bill that will enable those of you on capitol hill to get more information on the causes of the economic meltdown. Without understanding the causes of this situation we cannot find the proper response. President Obama does not understand the cause of the recession and continues to attempt to fix it by doing the same things that caused it, reckless spending and forced actions on businesses on a free-market economy. I believe you understand that the precursor to this meltdown was the federal government forcing fannie mae and freddie mac to back mortgages on houses that people could not afford. This caused the derivative market to become saturated with ‘toxic assets’, which in turn led to the breakdown of financial institutes that held these assets. With the failing of Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, AIG, and multiple National Banks those in Washington turned to the Federal Reserve as ‘the lender of last resort’. But, the Fed was involved the whole time. If you recall testimony of Chairman Ben Bernanke, where he alludes to what they were trying to do before the collapse, you can obviously see that The Fed was involved but without a complete audit you cannot see how involved there were. Therefore as my Representative in Congress I urge you to co-sponsor H. R. 1207 so that Congress understands ‘exactly’ how this recession was caused leading to the obvious conclusion that the Federal Reserve caused this mess and therefore cannot fix it by practicing business as usual. Thank You

Posted 03/04/09 8:11 PM mcmagi Belle Mead, NJ

Looks like this is catching on. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders grilled Bernanke recently and demanded more transparency of the Fed: http://uk.reuters.com/article/americasRegulatoryNes/idUKN034976502009030 3

Posted 03/04/09 8:18 PM Fjhaddad1 Woodstock, GA

I contacted my rep this morning regarding this.

Posted 03/04/09 10:46 PM jhonsun Irvine, CA

I contacted Rep. John Campbell (CA-48) via email and sent the letter written over at RonPaul.com along with links to the bill's text and this page with Dr. Paul's speech. He was just recently named to the Joint Economic Committee (Ron Paul is also on this committee). I am also going to contact Tom McClintock. Frankly, I'm disappointed in him for not already co-sponsoring this bill. This sort of thing ought to be right up his alley. Before Ron Paul, he was the first politician I really believed in. He had a reputation in the California Senate very similiar to Dr. Paul's in the House for never voting 'yes' on bogus budgets. As conservative as he is, I really wish he were more on the side of liberty. Let's hope that one day he will be.

Posted 03/04/09 11:37 PM jhonsun Irvine, CA

My letter to Tom McClintock: Dear Representative McClintock, I am writing you today in support of H.R. 1207, ‘The Federal Reserve Transparency Act’. I am hoping that you will give serious consideration to cosponsoring this bill. Quite frankly, I’m a little surprised that you haven’t already. You’ve been a hero of mine for many years now, having become acquainted with you through your radio appearances and hearing you speak eloquently and persuasively on a number of fiscal matters in this state. I am also very glad that you have been elected to the House (though I wish that you were our Governor). I keep track of your speeches and was very happy about your steadfast opposition to the recent “stimulus” bill. With regards to H.R. 1207, I believe that this bill is vitally important to any future government reform. It is one of those “Sine qua non” issues, that is, without which, nothing will change. I have looked at the other bills that you have cosponsored for this session of Congress and I believe that this bill lays an axe to the root of many of the vexing problems that you have campaigned against, whether it’s a balanced Congressional budget (H.J.RES.1; since the Fed facilitates undisciplined deficit spending at the expense of taxpayers’ income and savings), forcing government to live within it’s means (H.R.311), or various other fiscal and social policies that the federal government is free to pursue because there is no limit to the manipulation of our currency and no accountability for the gatekeepers of our monetary system and economic freedom (that is, until our creditors in Asia and the Middle East cut us off). I urge you to stand alongside the others who have cosponsored this bill and Congressman Paul on this monumental piece of legislation. One hundred years of secrecy is long enough and in this day and age (especially now), I can’t think of any reason why anyone in Congress would not want to know what our Federal Reserve System is doing in the name of our country and with our money. The text of H.R.1207 (a 5-minute read): http://thomas.loc.gov/home/gpoxmlc111/h1207_ih.xml Congressman Ron Paul’s speech introducing H.R.1207 (brilliantly argued): http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog.php?view=12517 Sincerely, Matt Johnson

Posted 03/05/09 4:04 PM John Anderson II Queen Creek, AZ

I emailed Jeff Flake about this just a second ago. I hope he co-sponsors it.

Posted 03/05/09 5:54 PM schaef350 Conestoga, PA

Lets fill our Representatives in boxes with Emails of support for this bill!

Posted 03/05/09 11:25 PM JohnF Lake Mary, FL

I contacted John Mica about this. This is what I got in return: "I wanted to acknowledge and thank you for your recent e-mail about cosponsoring H.R. 1207 to audit the Federal Reserve. I am pleased to know where you stand on this important issue. Your input is appreciated and I hope that you will contact me in the future with any other concerns you may have. With my regards and best wishes, I remain" Pretty pathetic response.

Posted 03/06/09 07:32 AM ussjrb1 Benton, AR

I contacted my Rep this morning concerning this.

Posted 03/07/09 12:10 PM ssurowiec Aberdeen, NJ

I contacted all three of my representatives and am awaiting a response, other then the canned 'thank you for contact us' auto-responder.

Posted 03/07/09 7:45 PM TakingBackTheGOP Livermore, CA

In California, two Central Committees (Alameda County GOP & Sonoma County GOP) have drafted a Resolution in support of H.R. 1207! Check it out here... http://www.alamedagop.org I will post the proposed Resolution there. Revolution!

Posted 03/07/09 9:59 PM jhonsun Irvine, CA

Good news! Cosponsors for H.R. 1207 have exploded from 11 to 21, including Congressman Tom McClintock (about time). Let's hope that momentum for this piece of legislation continues to build! I have not gotten any response from my own congressman, John Campbell (R-CA48), so I will probably call his office or maybe even drop by to talk to him.

Posted 03/07/09 10:22 PM jhonsun Irvine, CA

Almost forgot, here's a link to information about H.R. 1207 and an updated list of cosponsors for those who are keeping score: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D?d111:17:./temp/~bdnsw2::