United Liberty
Will Alabama’s Shelby Kill Plan to Audit the Fed?
Mon, 06/08/2009 - 9:58pm | posted by Dr. John Killian
As mentioned in an earlier post, Congressman Ron Paul has introduced legislation (HR 1207) to demand an audit of the Federal Reserve System. No body or institution in the world has so much power over our economy as does the Federal Reserve System. Yet, this private institution has virtually no accountability to the general public.
As of latest reporting, HR 1207 has 190 co-sponsors. This includes a fair number of Democrats. Among Alabama Congressmen, HR 1207 is co-sponsored by Congressmen Mike Rogers (3rd district), Robert Aderholt (4th district, and Spencer Bachus (6th district). Pressure
should be brought to bear on Congressman Bonner (1st District), Bright (2nd District), Griffith (5th District, and Davis (7th District).
However, the Senate version of this legislation was introduced by Senator Grassley of Iowa. Sad to say, already this legislation has been amended with exclusions written into the margins of the bill in pencil “with respect to a single and specific partnership or corporation.” That means that the scope of the GAO’s audit has been severely limited. This modified version of the amendment does not give GAO authority to look at all of the additional taxpayer risk. According to Senator Grassley’s website, this amendment was included by Alabama’s Senior Senator Richard Shelby.
This news is troubling because Shelby has been a critic of the Fed, including his oft-quoted promise that the Fed can remain secret for awhile, but not forever. Shelby was a hero in the hearings on the TARP bailouts and the auto bailouts,making the case from a position of support for free markets.
Alabama voters need to express their concerns to Senator Shelby. In a time of economic concern, this legislation should shine the light on the actions that are moving and directing our economy. Please take five minutes and watch this video to see the importance of the issue of auditing the Federal Reserve System.
It is also unfortunate that the Senate appears to be headed for consideration of Senator Grassley’s bill (in its watered-down version) rather than the true Senate counterpart to HR 1207, which was introduced by Senator Bernard Sanders (Ind-VT). As far as I know, Senator Sanders’ bill has no cosponsors, which would seem curious. Perhaps the fact that he, first, is an independent, and second, considers himself a socialist (albeit in many respects of a different stripe from most in Washington: note that he opposed the TARP bill and has spoken out against much of the corporatism in fashion these days) puts hims enough on the fringes to be ignored by most of his colleagues. In any case, it is his bill that has virtually identical language to Congressman Paul’s bill, not the one introduced by Senator Grassley. It’s enough to make one wonder if Grassley, Shelby and company have been enlisted to try to stop or undermine Ron Paul’s momentum with HR 1207. It is up to us to see to it that this doesn’t happen.
Update: S 604 is the Senate bill, as introduced by Senator Sanders. At the moment it has one co-sponsor: Senator DeMint of South Carolina. This is, as I said, the authentic bill, not the one introduced by Senator Grassley.
As of today, HR 1207 has 222 co-sponsors, meaning it’s now a majority! Among the latest co-sponsors is Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), who is known as a good friend of Dr. Paul, and who has worked with him on several issues.
Come on Alabama, put the pressure on this guy! We can get this done! Even if we fail, we will have accomplished so much. Nothing like this has ever been done before, yet nothing is so necessary as an audit of the federal reserve.
http://www.davidcarlsonpolitics.com
I just got off the phone with Senator Shelby’s receptionist in Washington DC. After telling her I was a constituent of Senator Shelby I expressly voiced my displeasure with his actions. She agree to pass it on. I hope she does.
I just sent an email to the Senator - heres a copy of it.
Dear Senator ,
I ask that you change your mind about watering down the Senate version S604 of the popular HR1207 bill to audit the Fed Reserve.
The change you suggest really has made the public discussion about why- this exclusion was so important to you - and what were you trying to cover up in an audit of the Fed?
You are supposed to be a conservative?
We wonder if you are trying to help the Fed cover up instead of helping the over burdened taxpayers of America get complete disclosure about how their money is being laundered by the Fed.
This ship (USA) is sinking and part of the history of how it sunk is written in the inner workings of the Fed Reserve. They are pulling the plug on the American taxpayers form of currency and sending the money before the inflation hits us square in the face, to places it doesn’t belong like the foreign banksters.
We will put pressure on our reps to help us fix this problem and if you are the only one standing out as an obstruction to the full disclosure audit, let it be on your resume, and let the voters know you don’t stand with them. See how that goes over in your next attempt at election. It will not be forgotten.