United Liberty

During his time in Congress, Ron Paul (R-TX) brought the idea of auditing the Federal Reserve into the mainstream. Not only was the Audit the Fed bill passed by the House last year, some of the candidates seeking the Republican presidential nomination adopted the idea from Dr. Paul.

Though Paul may have retired, the legislation requiring an audit of the Federal Reserve has been reintroduced in both chambers for the current Congress — by Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) in the House and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) in the Senate.

While some may question the need to audit the Federal Reserve, a new video from FreedomWorks featuring Julie Borowski explains the rational behind the legislation and notes that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), who once introduced similar legislation, is the biggest obstacle to a vote in the upper chamber:

Since the Federal Reserve announced its third-round of quantitative easing (QE3), a monetary policy move which essentially involves the central bank buying up debt,  Americans are beginning to wondering what impact it will have on them.

The goal of QE3 is ultimately to bring down the unemployment by one-percent, but it would also raise commodity prices and may even have some affect on housing market, though that impact may be marginal.

Questions remain whether the launching the program was wise, especially when one considers that the two previous rounds of quantitative easing and Operation Twist, have done little to ease the slow growth the economy has experienced.

The Federal Reserve, which has printed money and loaned trillions to national and foreign banks, has been under increased scrutiny since the 2008 financial crisis. Over the last four years, Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) has led the push in Congress to audit the United States’ central bank. As George Will recently said, the Federal Reserve has become the fourth branch of government, taking questionable steps with little oversight. Others wonder if the United States even needs the Fed since its creating more problems than anything else.

In a new video from Learn Liberty, Lawrence White, a professor at George Mason University, explains that the United States could indeed survive and prosper without the Federal Reserve, which, as he notes, has frequently become impediment to economic growth:

Though a day later than expected, the House of Representatives yesterday afternoon overwhelmingly passed Rep. Ron Paul’s Audit the Fed bill (H.R.459), which would open the Federal Reserve to transparency so Americans can see how the central bank is making policy decisions:

The House of Representatives on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved the Texas Republican’s bill to increase the transparency of the Federal Reserve. With bipartisan support, the measure passed 327-98. One Republican, Rep. Bob Turner of New York, joined 97 Democrats in voting against it.
[…]
Paul’s bill came to the floor Wednesday with 270 co-sponsors. The measure also received support from his fellow Republican presidential candidates during the primaries. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, most recently voiced his approval for Paul’s efforts last week.

“Ron Paul’s ‘Audit The Fed’ bill is a reminder of his tireless efforts to promote sound money and a more transparent Federal Reserve,” Romney posted on Twitter.

You can view the roll call vote here.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testified before congressional committees over the last couple of days. This is always as interesting event since it gives some insight into the state of the economy, but also because you can always look forward to exchanges between Bernanke and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), a very vocal critic of the Federal Reserve.

These exchanges are, unfortunately, something I’ll miss since Rep. Paul has decided not to seek re-election. In what was likely his last chance to speak to Bernanke before he retires, Rep. Paul explained the problems with the Federal Reserve during yesterday’s hearing:

But while testifying before the House Financial Services Committee yesterday, Bernanke urged caution in passing Rep. Paul’s Audit the Fed legislation, which is supposed to come up for a vote before the summer recess:

In the last couple web ads produced by his campaign, Gov. Gary Johnson has covered his fiscal record and his anti-war stance. But in his new ad, his team makes a very clear appeal to Ron Paul supporters by noting that he’ll continue to wave the banner of auditing the Federal Reserve, making the nation’s central bank more transparent for Americans: