What a difference being a minority makes. This year the speeches at CPAC were generally on target and it was refreshing not having to listen to a lot of Neocon saber rattling, McCain amnesty, and “compassionate” conservatism. One man who did not change his message with the political winds is of course Dr. Ron Paul. During his speech on Friday he reiterated his concerns over the unsound monetary policy dictated by the Federal Reserve with no recourse or oversight. Earlier this week he introduced HR 1207 also known as the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009 which requires an audit of the Federal Reserve to be made available to members of the Senate and the House. Currently the GAO has the responsibility to audit the Fed but due to interesting exemptions is prohibited from auditing:
(1) transactions conducted on behalf of or with foreign central banks, foreign governments, and nonprivate international financing organizations;
(2) deliberations, decisions, and actions on monetary policy matters, including discount window operations, reserves of member banks, securities credit, interest on deposits, and open market operations;
(3) transactions made under the direction of the Federal Open Market Committee including transactions of the Federal Reserve System Open Market Account; and
(4) those portions of oral, written, telegraphic, or telephonic discussions and communications among or between Members of the Board of Governors, and officers and employees of the Federal Reserve System
So far the bill is getting bi-partisan support with 3 Democrat co-sponsors along with 8 Republicans so maybe I will have some luck getting my VA-8 Congressman to support the bill in this era of expected govt transparency.
