Sens. Paul, DeMint Applaud House Passage of Audit the Fed

Press Release

Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Federal Reserve Transparency Act (H.R. 459), known as Audit the Fed, 327-98. The bill would allow for an independent and nonpartisan audit of Federal Reserve monetary policy decisions, a first in the 100-year history of the central bank. After the bill's successful passage in the House of Representatives, Sen. Rand Paul issued the following statement.

"An audit of the Federal Reserve is more urgent than ever. A GAO report from July 2011 revealed the Fed bailed out banks and corporations to the tune of $16 trillion in taxpayer dollars. A full and thorough audit will finally bring transparency and accountability to the secretive institution that devalues Americans' savings, drives inflation, and enables big government. I applaud its passage in the House today," Sen. Paul said.

"I also congratulate my father, Rep. Ron Paul, who has long fought at the vanguard of this movement when he first introduced Audit the Fed in 1983. Now with 271 co-sponsors and having passed the House, I call upon Democrat leadership to allow a vote in the Senate on this much-needed transparency bill," he continued.

In January 2011, Sen. Rand Paul introduced companion legislation in the Senate, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2011 (S.202), also calling for a full audit of the Federal Reserve. A co-sponsor of that bill, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), offered the following statement in response to today's House victory.

"At the same time that the Federal Reserve has played an unprecedented role in our economy, it has also shown an unprecedented resistance to transparency," Sen. DeMint said. "The Fed should no longer be allowed to conceal the full story on the depth of its interventions surrounding the financial crisis, on how it formulates the easy money policy that is damaging to our economy, and on the deliberations it's making over implementing many of the hundreds of regulations required by the sweeping Dodd-Frank law. The only way to achieve these goals is a full audit of the Federal Reserve, and I applaud the House of Representatives for approving legislation that would do just that."

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