That
tireless defender of civil liberties, limited government, and the Constitution,
Dr. Ron Paul of Texas, is about to end his quarter century congressional
career at the age of 77. No one in Congress has been more committed
to our founding principles than Ron Paul. His imminent departure from
Congress is therefore an incalculable loss for the United States and
the world. On the eve of his departure, just when the pundits thought
him incapable of achieving a political gain, he proved them wrong, the
capstone to a career marked by independence from Republican sell-outs
to big government and Democratic advocates of big government. On July
25, an astonishing 327 members of Congress voted in favor of his Audit
the Fed bill, causing it to pass with the two-thirds majority required
during the House’s suspension of its normal rules. Although the
bill is one Harry Reid despises and will not let come to a floor vote
in the Democratic Senate, the promise of a future when the Federal Reserve
will be more transparent in its decision making appears brighter today
than at any other time in American history. Senator Rand Paul, Ron Paul’s
son, has pending S. 202, which is the Senate version of the House Audit
the Fed bill.
Under
Dr. Paul’s bill, the Government Accountability Office is authorized
to examine the previously closed-door discussions of monetary policy
performed at the central bank. Federal Reserve financials are already
reviewed by an outside audit firm with results published by the central
bank. The GAO also audits the Federal Reserve’s financials, but
to date deliberations on policy decisions governing monetary policy
have been shrouded in secrecy. Dr. Paul’s bill would force those
secret deliberations into the light by eliminating the statutory exemption
that has shielded them from GAO audits. “I think when people talk
about independence and having this privacy of the central bank,”
said Dr. Paul in the July 24 floor debate on the bill, “they want
secrecy, and secrecy is not good. We should have privacy for the individual,
but we should have openness of government all the time, and we’ve
drifted a long way from that.”
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