Audit the Fed

Support 'Audit the Fed' Bill in the New Congress

 

In recent years (2012 and 2014), the House of Representatives approved a measure calling for an audit of the Federal Reserve. Each time, more than 300 members voted affirmatively. H.R. 24, which was introduced in the House by Representatives by Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) on January 6, 2015, is another measure calling for the same action. It has already gained 133 co-sponsors. As in previous years, a similarly overwhelming majority is expected to approve the measure in the House.

 

However, attempts to have the Senate approve such a step have been blocked in past years by former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). Now that Democrats no longer hold a majority in the Senate, Reid is no longer the Majority Leader and can no longer block any call for auditing the Fed. On January 27, 2015, Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) introduced S. 264 to accomplish what Reid has regularly stymied. His bill, S. 264, has already gained 31 co-sponsors, one of whom is the new Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Obviously, Sen. McConnell will not use his powerful post, as his predecessor did, to keep the measure from being voted on by the full Senate.

 

The immediate need now is to persuade more senators to indicate their willingness to back S. 264, either by cosponsoring the measure (the better course) or by pledging support for it when the bill eventually comes to the Senate floor for a vote. Click here (and scroll down to "Details") for the names of the senators who have become cosponsors of S. 264 (thirty-one are cosponsors as of February 13, 2015). Then, please email your own senators, urging those who are not cosponsors to become cosponsors, and thanking those who are already cosponsors. A copy of your email message will also be sent automatically to your representative.

 

If both the Senate and the House approve their separate measures calling for the audit, there would then be a conference to iron out minor differences (if there are any) in the two bills, then it would be sent back to both houses for a vote on the "conference report." If the conference report is passed by both houses, it would then be sent to the president for his approval/disapproval. Or, in the event that both houses would approve exactly the same bill, the bill would be sent directly to the president. Mr. Obama is expected to veto the measure. If he does as expected, he will reveal himself even more as an unworthy chief executive.  If he were to veto the bill, it would then go back to each house of Congress for a further vote on overriding the veto. Two-thirds majority in each house is required to override a veto. Both the House and the Senate bills call for the audit to be conducted by the Comptroller General of the United States.

 

The customary reason advanced by Fed personnel and some members of Congress for refusing to support an audit is that the Fed must remain "independent." However, if the American people knew what the Fed has been doing for 100 years, there would be moves to abolish it.  The dollar was worth 100 cents when the Fed was launched in 1913 and its worth today is only two cents. The Fed not only conducts bailouts for big U.S. banks and industries; it has bailed out foreign banks as well. The Fed is paving the way for internationalism at the expense of national independence.

 

Fed officials have always been fearful that Congress will succeed in the call for an audit.  Fed Chairman Janet Yellen recently took the unusual step of visiting with some senators to request their opposition to the requested audit. Obviously, she is worried. Let's increase her worries.

 

Source: The John Birch Society, JBS.org