Sen. Rand Paul announced on Wednesday that President-elect Trump has stated his support for the “Audit the Fed” bill that Paul just reintroduced to Congress, according to The Hill.
President-elect @realDonaldTrump has stated his support for #AuditTheFed. Let’s send him the bill this Congress. https://t.co/1twVBMv37u
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) January 4, 2017
Auditing the Fed is something that started with Rand Paul’s father, Ron Paul, who has been pushing for years to have the Federal Reserve central bank audited. That measure may soon become a reality if the new Congress votes in favor of the legislation.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) have re-introduced the controversial “Audit the Fed” bill, after a similar effort failed with the last Congress in January 2016.
“The U.S. House has responded to the American people by passing Audit the Fed multiple times, and President-elect Trump has stated his support for an audit. Let’s send him the bill this Congress,” Rand Paul said.
Key points this time around include the fact that both the house and senate are controlled by Republicans who have long been critical of the Fed’s policies. Trump himself also has said before on Twitter that he would audit the Fed.
Under the bill, the Fed’s monetary policy would be subject to outside board review by the Government Accountability Office. However, if the U.S. central bank is ever fully audited, it is assumed that massive fraud would be exposed.
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke previously said that if an audit of the federal reserve was to take place, the dollar and the U.S. economy would be in danger:
“My concern about the legislation is that if the GAO is auditing not only the operational aspects of the programs and the details of the programs but making judgments about our policy decisions would effectively be a takeover of monetary policy by the Congress and a repudiation of the independence of the Federal Reserve would be highly destructive to the stability of the financial system, the Dollar and our national economic situation.”
Bernanke’s former advisor infamously said that “People Would Be Stunned To Know The Extent To Which The Fed Is Privately Owned” in April 2016.
Janet Yellen shared a similar sentiment, when she said that the U.S. dollar and the U.S. economy would be in danger when questioned by Senator David Vitter (R-LA) in November 2013:
“So I strongly support as indicated transparent and openness on the part of the fed and I think with respect to monetary policy in terms of the range of information and the timeliness of that information we are one of the most transparent central banks in the world. What I would not support is a requirement that we diminish the independence of the federal reserve in implementing and deciding on monetary policy. For 50 years congress has recognized that there should be an exception to GAO ability to audit the fed to avoid any political inference in monetary policy I believe it’s critically important for the economic performance of this country and we’ve seen this around the world that allowing a central bank to be independent in forming monetary policy is critical to assuring markets and the public that we will achieve price stability and I would be very concerned about legislation that would subject the Federal Reserve that could interfere with that independence.”
Former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has also expressed his concern for missing money in the Federal Reserve. He confronted Bernanke in 2009, and asked, “WHERE IS THE MONEY?” for the TARP bailout, which consisted of $2.2 trillion that the Fed lent out to anonymous banks.
There is also the case in which $9 trillion went missing from the Federal Reserve in 2010. That’s not to mention the “billions” of dollars that went missing out of the money the Feds sent to Iraq during the Iraq War.
[RELATED: Ron Paul Looking To Join Trump’s Federal Reserve Board?]
Ron Paul’s statement on auditing the Fed:
“I applaud my son Senator Rand Paul and my friend Representative Thomas Massie for their leadership on the important issue of auditing the Federal Reserve. Audit the Fed is the type of change the American people demanded when they went to the polls last November.
For 105 years, the Federal Reserve has exercised almost absolute and unquestioned authority over America’s monetary policy. The result has been a boom-and-bust business cycle, growth in government, increasing income inequality, and a loss of over 90% of the dollar’s purchasing power. No wonder almost 80% of Americans support Audit the Fed!
While campaigning for President, Donald Trump not only criticized the Fed’s easy money policies, he also endorsed Audit the Fed. With a President who supports Audit the Fed finally sitting in the White House, Congress has no excuse to not quickly pass this bill and finally let the American people know the truth about the Fed’s conduct on monetary policy, including its dealings with foreign governments and central banks.”
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