UPDATED May 11, 2010 13:59
Ron Paul regarding the Senate Audit the Fed bill:
Bernie Sanders has sold out and sided with Chris Dodd to gut Audit the Fed in the Senate. His “compromise” is what the Adminstration and banking interests want: they’ll allow the TARP and TALF to be audited, but no transparency of the FOMC, discount window operations or agreement with foreign central banks. We need to take aciton and stop this!
…
I am outraged. The Senate just voted down the Vitter Amendment and against a real audit of the Federal Reserve. My entire team and I are going to work very hard to make sure the American people know who voted right, and who voted with the banking special interests.
[source: Ron Paul’s Facebook Page]
ORIGINALLY POSTED May 11, 2010Â 13:50
The Senate has passed what is being called the Audit the Fed bill with overwhelming support (96-0).
Up until about last Thursday (coincidence?) there was a possibility through the Vitter amendment (see below) that the Audit the Fed bill in the Senate was going to actually audit Fed monetary policy and discount window transactions as per the House of Representative’s bill (HR1207) which passed with significant support last year. The new bill, which was passed in the Senate, was changed by Senator Sanders at the very last minute, according to Ron Paul. Additionally, any hope of the Vitter amendment being passed seems to have been wiped out by Thursday’s stock market crash, which we have suggested was an attack on our financial system and a clear message to Congress by parties interested in keeping Fed activities secret.
[Source: RonPaul.com]
A compromise amendment requiring the GAO to conduct a one-time audit of the Federal Reserve’s emergency-response programs unanimously passed the Senate by a 96-0 vote. The amendment had been introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and calls for for releasing the names of institutions that received in total more than $2 trillion in loans from the central bank during the peak of the financial crisis.
Sanders had originally used the language of Ron Paul’s HR 1207, which passed in the House as an amendment last year, but later changed his amendment under pressure by the Federal Reserve and the Obama administration. Sen. Vitter reintroduced an amendment with the original Audit the Fed language.
Basically, the Fed will now give us the names of the banks they lent to and tell us how much money they spent on office supplies, but no real information will likely be shared with the public. This is 21st century government transparency.
David Vitter, Republican of Louisiana, attempted to keep Ron Paul’s original language in the bill, but for some unknown reason (ahem…), the Senate rejected this amendment 37-62.
Senator David Vitter, Republican of Louisiana, put forward an amendment that would have mirrored Ron Paul’s tough Audit the Fed language, but the Senate rejected it today. The vote was 37 to 62. (The Senate instead passed a modified “placebo†amendment that had the support of the Obama administration.)
Before the vote, Vitter appealed for support: “I urge all of my colleagues, Democrats and Republicans, to support both amendments to have full openness and accountability and transparency with all the protections that are included against politicizing individual Fed decisions.â€
Every Senator, Republican and Democrat, who voted against this amendment needs to be sent home in the next election cycle. With this vote, they have essentially told the American people that we don’t need to know how the Federal Reserve engages in lending, what assets they have on their books and what they have been doing with the US dollar.
The Federal Reserve’s decisions affect every single American, including those who have yet to be born. The issue of transparency shouldn’t even be an issue! This is common sense, is it not? We do not need “one time disclosures” as per the Senate bill. We need constant transparency. Does anyone really trust the Fed, Treasury and other to do the American people right if there is no cross-check?
This is getting more ridiculous by the day.
From Ron Paul:
This should go show you that congress is controlled by the bankers.We will continue to be ripped off and The Fed will continue with there Bailouts and threats. Secretcy continues and those with the money rule . Im sure Bernanke is celebrating with a 5000 bottle of wine paid for by us Taxpayers.Cheers!Â
Meanwhile folks-continue to bend over and take it deeper!
Ron Paul is a American hero.   Â
Most of the rest of the politicians in Washington D.C. are bribed vermin.    If not now, then in the not too distant future they will fear for their lives at the hands of the angry population.   Â
Only a fool would have been expecting a different outcome. Only a fool expects a political solution to any of our problems.
unless one subscribes to the notion that war is politics by other means, sanityjones…
Time to have term limits–2 terms  for any politician. Abolish parties,all run as INDIVIDUALS . No donations PEIROD!
 Notice after 1 1/2 terms most Senators/Congres members become multi millioair$.Pass a law– other than salary, not more than 1 cent made after they/family quite politicks
I always wondered what citizens that let the “fed” be created and expand under previous presidents were doing while it was happening. Now I know. Media blackout and obviously had no control or say in their own political process.
traitor, liar, facilitator of TREASON, usurper of the Constitution and We The People. Jackass. Fraud. Scumbag.
Sanders is a sell-out. I wonder what dirt they dug up on him that would ruin his career? He’s openly gay, so there must be something he’s hiding.
Have to agree with sanityjones here. What do you do in a game that you cannot win?
You refuse to play. Congress will destroy themselves, it’s only a matter of time.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/37103768
I think one term limits would be more appropriate… though Im not sure there will be any terms soon…. lets hope ..