Tag Archives: End the Fed

Bloomberg reporter who sued the Fed has died

Nov. 28 (Bloomberg) — Mark Pittman, the award-winning investigative reporter whose fight to open the Federal Reserve to more scrutiny led Bloomberg News to sue the central bank and win, died Nov. 25 in Yonkers, New York. He was 52.

Pittman suffered from heart-related illnesses. The precise cause of his death wasn’t known, said his friend William Karesh. (Read more from dailypaul.com)

Full list of voters on the Paul/Grayson amendment

Statement from Campaign For Liberty: “Thanks to your quick action in contacting Congress, the House Financial Services Committee earlier today rejected Representative Mel Watt’s attempt to hijack Audit the Fed by voting 43-26 to pass Ron Paul’s amendment to the financial regulatory reform bill.”

Full list of voters on the Paul/Grayson amendment:

AL-06 Rep. Spencer Bachus – yay

CA-12 Rep. Jackie Speier- yay
CA-22 Rep. Kevin McCarthy – yay
CA-27 Rep. Brad Sherman – yay
CA-35 Rep. Maxine Waters – nay
CA-40 Rep. Edward R. Royce – yay

CA-42 Rep. Gary G. Miller – nay
CA-43 Rep. Joe Baca – nay
CA-48 Rep. John Campbell – yay
CO-07 Rep. Ed Perlmutter – yay
CT-04 Rep. Jim Himes – nay

DE-01 Rep. Michael N. Castle – yay
FL-08 Rep. Alan Grayson – yay
FL-12 Rep. Adam Putnam – yay
FL-15 Rep. Bill Posey – yay
FL-22 Rep. Ron Klein – nay

FL-24 Rep. Suzanne Kosmas

GA-06 Rep. Tom Price – yay
GA-13 Rep. David Scott – yay
ID-01 Rep. Walt Minnick – yay
IL-04 Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez – nay

IL-08 Rep. Melissa L. Bean – nay
IL-13 Rep. Judy Biggert – yay
IL-14 Rep. Bill Foster – nay
IL-16 Rep. Donald A. Manzullo – yay
IN-02 Rep. Joe Donnelly – nay

IN-07 Rep. Andre Carson – nay
KS-02 Rep. Lynn Jenkins – yay
KS-03 Rep. Dennis Moore – nay
MA-04 Rep. Barney Frank – nay
MA-08 Rep. Michael E. Capuano – nay

MA-09 Rep. Stephen F. Lynch – nay
MI-09 Rep. Gary Peters – yay
MI-11 Rep. Thaddeus McCotter – yay
MN-03 Rep. Erik Paulsen – yay
MN-05 Rep. Keith Ellison – nay

MN-06 Rep. Michele Bachmann – yay
MO-01 Rep. William Lacy Clay – yay
MO-05 Rep. Emanuel Cleaver – nay
MS-01 Rep. Travis Childers – yay
NC-03 Rep. Walter B. Jones – yay

NC-10 Rep. Patrick T. McHenry – yay
NC-12 Rep. Melvin L. Watt – nay
NC-13 Rep. Brad Miller – nay
NH-02 Rep. Paul W. Hodes – yay
NJ-03 Rep. John Adler – yay

NJ-05 Rep. Scott Garrett – yay
NJ-07 Rep. Leonard Lance – yay
NY-03 Rep. Peter King – yay
NY-04 Rep. Carolyn McCarthy – yay
NY-05 Rep. Gary L. Ackerman – nay

NY-06 Rep. Gregory W. Meeks – nay
NY-12 Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez – yay
NY-14 Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney – nay
NY-25 Rep. Dan Maffei – yay
NY-26 Rep. Christopher Lee – yay

OH-01 Rep. Steve Driehaus – yay
OH-06 Rep. Charles Wilson – nay
OH-15 Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy – nay
OK-03 Rep. Frank D. Lucas – yay
PA-06 Rep. Jim Gerlach – yay

PA-11 Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski
SC-03 Rep. J. Gresham Barrett – yay
TX-05 Rep. Jeb Hensarling – yay
TX-09 Rep. Al Green – nay
TX-14 Rep. Ron Paul – yay

TX-15 Rep. Rub̩n Hinojosa Рyay
TX-19 Rep. Randy Neugebauer – yay
TX-24 Rep. Kenny Marchant – yay
WI-04 Rep. Gwen Moore – nay
WV-02 Rep. Shelley Moore Capito – nay

(from PrisonPlanet.com)

Fed Beaten: Bill To Audit Federal Reserve Passes Key Hurdle

This is my favorite account of HR 1207’s recent clearance of the House Finance Committee.

In an unprecedented defeat for the Federal Reserve, an amendment to audit the multi-trillion dollar institution was approved by the House Finance Committee with an overwhelming and bipartisan 43-26 vote on Thursday afternoon despite harried last-minute lobbying from top Fed officials and the surprise opposition of Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who had previously been a supporter.

The measure, cosponsored by Reps. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), authorizes the Government Accountability Office to conduct a wide-ranging audit of the Fed’s opaque deals with foreign central banks and major U.S. financial institutions. The Fed has never had a real audit in its history and little is known of what it does with the trillions of dollars at its disposal. . . . (Read more from huffingtonpost.com)

HR 1207 made it out of committee!

Campaign for Liberty email:

Dear Friend of Liberty,

Thanks to your quick action in contacting Congress, the House Financial Services Committee earlier today rejected Representative Mel Watt’s attempt to hijack Audit the Fed by voting 43-26 to pass Ron Paul’s amendment to the financial regulatory reform bill.

Dr. Paul called me right after the vote to personally express his thanks to C4L members for all of your efforts!

It is an incredible testament to the growing power of the liberty movement that we were able to get such an audit passed by a major House committee, but this is by no means the end of our fight. . . .

See Also: Ron Paul wins a key battle in war to open Fed’s books

Rep. Mel Watt (D-NC) – $319,822 to buy a Congressman

From an email I received:

Ever want to buy your very own Congressman? A legislative tool to get the job done, especially dirty jobs that violate the trust of the American people? How much do you think it would cost?

It turns out surprisingly little.

Meet Rep. Mel Watt of North Carolina’s 12th District. Commercial banks have been his largest career donor, giving a total of $319,822 over the past ten years. That’s just a little over $30,000 per year.

What do banking lobbyists get in return?

Rep. Watt chairs the House Financial Services monetary policy subcommittee. Last Friday, Rep. Ron Paul reported that our Federal Reserve Transparency Act (HR 1207) was “gutted” in Rep. Watt’s subcommittee. Rep. Watt’s changes restricted inquiry around transactions with foreign central banks, monetary policy deliberations, transactions made under the direction of the Federal Open Market Committee and communications between the Board, the reserve banks and staff.

Not a bad return on investment for the Fed and its lobbyists.

In defense of Rep. Watt, however, it’s not totally his fault. His district is the most obviously gerrymandered in North Carolina, following I-85 like a snake from Charlotte to Winston Salem. It is overwhelmingly Democratic, and his re-election has never been seriously challenged. Why should he represent the people when he is electorally invincible?

An invincible incumbent is the most useful tool, and a bargain to boot.

Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Bob Corker (R-TN) introduce the *bullshit* Federal Reserve Accountability Act

Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Bob Corker (R-TN)

Washington D.C. October 20, 2009 -Today, Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Bob Corker (R-TN) introduced the Federal Reserve Accountability Act, an attempted compromise on the issue of transparency for America’s secretive central bank. The bill would permit an audit of the Fed’s actions in the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and similar high profile bailouts, but would not allow Congress to review the Fed’s inflation of the money supply or the its agreements with foreign central banks.

Legislation that would bring a full audit of the Fed, Congressman Ron Paul’s H.R. 1207 and its Senate companion S. 604, has gained strong grassroots support and built tremendous pressure on banking special interests.

Opponents of Fed Transparency argue that a full audit of the Federal Reserve would damage the central bank’s “independence” and allow Congress to dictate monetary policy.

“Claims that transparency at the Federal Reserve would leave Congress in charge of monetary policy are simply bogus,” said Jesse Benton, Senior Vice President of Campaign for Liberty. “There is absolutely no reason why The American People should not be able to review the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee after a reasonable amount of time has passed.”

“The Federal Reserve Accountability Act does not audit the monetary policy functions which have been responsible for our deteriorating dollar and so many of our current economic problems, and it is not an acceptable piece of legislation. Campaign for Liberty will continue to push for a full audit of the Fed.” (Read more from campaignforliberty.com)

See also, Ron Paul’s remarks:

Three In Four Americans Support Federal Reserve Audit

“ALEXANDRIA, Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–A recent poll conducted by highly respected Rasmussen Reports found that 75 percent of Americans support an audit of the Federal Reserve, our Nation’s secretive, quasi-governmental central bank. Only 9 percent of respondents opposed an audit, a further indication of overwhelming support for Fed transparency. . . .

Congressman Ron Paul’s bill H.R. 1207, the Federal Reserve Transparency Bill of 2009, and S. 604, its Senate companion bill, are experiencing tremendous momentum on Capitol Hill.

H.R. 1207 currently has 279 bi-partisan cosponsors, including every Republican and 101 Democrats. S. 604 enjoys 20 cosponsors including Independent Bernie Sanders (I-VT), progressive Russ Feingold (D-WI), and conservative stalwart Jim DeMint (R-SC).

Campaign for Liberty has been the leader in a push for a Federal Reserve audit, using its nationwide grassroots network to educate millions of Americans about sound monetary policy and the need for transparency in our banking system. The groups has generated hundreds of thousands of petitions and phone calls to lawmakers, distributed massive amounts of educational material and canvassed countless neighborhoods across the country.” (Read more from businesswire.com)

Rasmussen? Hmpf.

See Also:

I think she uses disinformation techniques 9 & 13, play dumb & Alice in Wonderland.

Ron Paul’s latest statement on Auditing the Federal Reserve

“Last week I was very pleased that hearings were held on the independence of the Federal Reserve system. My bill HR 1207, known as the Federal Reserve Transparency Act, was discussed at length, as well as the general question of whether or not the Federal Reserve should continue to operate independently.

The public is demanding transparency in government like never before. A majority of the House has cosponsored HR 1207. Yet, Senator Jim DeMint’s heroic efforts to attach it to another piece of legislation elicited intense opposition by the Senate leadership.

The hearings on Capitol Hill provided us with a great deal of information about the types of arguments that will be levied against meaningful transparency and how the secretive central bankers will defend the status quo that is so beneficial to them.

Claims are made that auditing the Fed would compromise its independence. However, by independence, they really mean secrecy. The Fed clearly cherishes its vast power to create and spend trillions of dollars, diluting the value of every other dollar in circulation, making deals with other central banks, and bailing out cronies, all to the detriment of the taxpayer, and to the enrichment of themselves. I am happy to challenge this type of ‘independence’.

They claim the Fed is endowed with special intellectual abilities with which to control the market and that central bankers magically know what the market needs. We should just trust them. This is patently ridiculous. The market is a complex and intricate thing. No one knows what the market needs other than the market itself. It sends signals, such as prices, that should be reacted to and respected, not thwarted and controlled. Bankers are not all-knowing and cannot ignore the rules of supply and demand. They might act as if they are, but their manipulation of the market just ends up throwing it wildly off balance, which gives us the boom and bust cycles.

They claim the Fed must remain apolitical. No organization is apolitical that relies on the President to appoint the Chairman. In fact, it is subject to the worst sort of politics – power to create trillions of dollars and affect the value of every dollar in the country without the accountability of direct elections or meaningful oversight! The Fed typically enacts monetary policy that is favorable to particular administrations close to elections, to the detriment of long term considerations. They do this partly because of the political appointee process for the Chairmanship.

The only accountability the Federal Reserve has is ultimately to Congress, which granted its charter and can revoke it at any time. It is Congress’s constitutional duty to protect the value of the money, and they have abdicated this responsibility for far too long. This was the issue that got me involved in politics 35 years ago. It is very encouraging to finally see the issue getting some needed exposure and traction. It is regrettable that it took a crisis of this magnitude to get a serious debate on this issue.” (Read more from dailypaul.com)

Sen Grassley (R – IA) attempts to eviscerate End the Fed bill

This is dated news (from early June) but relevant for all my Iowa friends.

“Ron Paul’s Bill to audit the Fed continues to get more support from the Congress. Nancy Pelosi will be forced to put it to a vote and it will probably pass. That is the good news.

The bad news happened in the Senate at the hands of a Republican senator. The companion Senate bill to HR 1207 is S 604 which has been sponsored by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Last week, Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa pencilled in amendments to the bill in committee which would exempt the Fed from showing the public anything of importance. Senator Grassley thought to do this in such a way that his hand would not be identified in this cowardly act at the behest of the bankers, but the pencil marks are all over the Internet. You can see how Grassley gutted the Bill here.” (Read more from reasontraditionsandliberty.blogspot.com)