House Passes Bill to Audit the Fed → Washingtons Blog
House Passes Bill to Audit the Fed - Washingtons Blog

Friday, December 11, 2009

House Passes Bill to Audit the Fed


I have just received confirmation from a very credible Congressional source that the bill to audit the Federal Reserve is included in the House financial reform legislation which passed today. My source says:

The Fed audit provision which passed the Financial Services Committee a few weeks ago is part of the bill. This is a real milestone, as it means that the full House of Representatives has passed a bill that mandates a complete audit of the Fed.

The effort to audit the Fed - supported by 79% of the American people - is gaining traction.

UPDATE: Congressman Grayson has confirmed that the bill to audit the Fed passed:

The bill includes the Paul-Grayson amendment, which calls for the first independent audit of the Federal Reserve in the 96-year history of the central bank. Congressman Grayson teamed with Rep. Ron Paul to push for the “Audit The Fed” legislation. Congressman Grayson discovered that the Federal Reserve has conducted secret bailouts that range in the hundreds of billions of dollars since 2008. The bill grants authority to the non-partisan General Accountability Office to conduct the audit. “Exposing how the Federal Reserve operates is a crucial component to any meaningful reform. We need to find out what they’ve done and then we can figure out how to respond,” Congressman Grayson said.

My source says that it will take a couple of days for the GAO to assemble all of the amendments into a single text.

In the meantime, you can view the version of the bill provided by Congress' Thomas website here or here.

The New York Times has also posted what it claims is the final version of the bill (see below). If accurate, the relevant provisions appear to be the following.

SEC. 1000A. RESTRICTIONS ON THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM PENDING AUDIT REPORT.

    (a) In General- Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Comptroller General of the United States shall perform an audit of all actions taken by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal reserve banks during the current economic crisis pursuant to the authority granted under section 13(c) of the Federal Reserve Act. Such audit shall be completed as expeditiously as possible after the date of the enactment of the Financial Stability Improvement Act of 2009.
    (b) Report-
      (1) REQUIRED- Not later than the end of the 90-day period beginning on the date the audit referred to in subsection (a) is completed, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit a report to the Congress, and make such report available to the public.
      (2) CONTENTS- The report under paragraph (1) shall include a detailed description of the findings and conclusion of the Comptroller General with respect to the audit that is the subject of the report, together with such recommendations for legislative or administrative action as the Comptroller General may determine to be appropriate.

***

SEC. 1008. OVERSIGHT BY GAO.

    (a) Authority to Audit- The Comptroller General of the United States may audit the activities and financial transactions of--
      (1) the Council; and
      (2) any person or entity acting on behalf of or under the authority of the Council, to the extent such activities and financial transactions relate to such person's or entity's work for the Council.
    (b) Access to Information-
      (1) IN GENERAL- Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Comptroller General of the United States shall have access, upon request and at such reasonable time and in such reasonable form as the Comptroller General may request, to--
        ***
        (B) any records or other information under the control of a person or entity acting on behalf of or under the authority of the Council, to the extent such records or other information is relevant to an audit under subsection (a).
    Section 1001 (b) (1) (B), in turn, makes the Chairman of the Federal Reserve a member of the Council:

    SEC. 1001. FINANCIAL SERVICES OVERSIGHT COUNCIL ESTABLISHED.

      (a) Establishment- Immediately upon enactment of this title, there is established a Financial Services Oversight Council.
      (b) Membership- The Council shall consist of the following:
        (1) VOTING MEMBERS- Voting members, who shall each have one vote on the Council, as follows:
          ***
          (B) The Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
      Therefore, Section 1008 might also give the GAO additional audit authority over the Fed, although I will leave it to the lawyers to argue over an interpretation of Section 1008.

      Call your Senator and demand that the Senate approve the bill to audit the Fed (and demand that the language be tightened up to close all loopholes).


      Financial Services Regulatory Overhaul Bill of 2009



      10 comments:

      1. Folks open your eyes once and for all: CONGRESS IS A CIRCUS. The passing of this bill is only designed to keep entertained the audiences. In the end, nothing will change unless this circus decides to pass an act that surely repels the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. Any legal measure lesser than abolishing the Fed is pure baloney. Therefore, to those who still believe that Congress represents the American people, I can only say stop of believing in fairy tales.

        ReplyDelete
      2. The Rothschilds fed US congressman bark at Rothschilds' icon , the Fed Reserve financiar gold mine ... Right ! While Ron Paul survives ( in view of similar stunts by JFK )...
        So the question is : what are the Legal financiar consequences of the dollar being backed-up/printed by the White House instead of the Federal Reserve Co. ?
        Basically it is a financiar black-hole with no support for the American dollar what so ever .
        Hence , when the switch is moved from the Fed Res to the USA Government a collapse of the dollar will follow instanteniously , a recession , reseting the prices and wages to under Chinese values and so , at pennies per hour for labour , USA will became again the darling of investing , forget about 'communist' China/Asia ...
        Just ponder , among other shocking thought , what this will mean for Asians , their liveliuhood , hence availability to became dark tools of the Rothscvhilds . Just as with 9/11 , there are always double and triple benefits planned in .

        ReplyDelete
      3. Uh, I could be wrong, but it looks like a provision to RESTRICT any Fed audit was just passed; notice how it limits things to the "current crisis"

        SEC. 1000A. RESTRICTIONS ON THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM PENDING AUDIT REPORT.

        (a) In General- Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Comptroller General of the United States shall perform an audit of all actions taken by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal reserve banks during the current economic crisis pursuant to the authority granted under section 13(c) of the Federal Reserve Act. Such audit shall be completed as expeditiously as possible after the date of the enactment of the Financial Stability Improvement Act of 2009.

        (b) Report-

        (1) REQUIRED- Not later than the end of the 90-day period beginning on the date the audit referred to in subsection (a) is completed, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit a report to the Congress, and make such report available to the public.

        (2) CONTENTS- The report under paragraph (1) shall include a detailed description of the findings and conclusion of the Comptroller General with respect to the audit that is the subject of the report, together with such recommendations for legislative or administrative action as the Comptroller General may determine to be appropriate.

        ReplyDelete
      4. Unfortunately we all know who the rest of checks and balances work for...

        ReplyDelete
      5. Right at the moment there is a crying need for a scapegoat. This -Audit the Fed- bill, is in the running.

        The markets cannot sustain current levels anyway, -as the collapse continues and the assessment of the ongoing damage becomes more stark by the light of the approaching dawn of this Greatest of all Depressions.

        Put on your galloshes, your rubber suits, and don your pith helmuts.

        The biggest dump is still ahead.

        The elephant in the room is presently standing up -on the grand piano.

        And the Fat Lady is about to sing her song.

        Oh, -LOOK OUT-!

        ReplyDelete
      6. WE need to do more, we need to abolish the FED.

        Only after that is done we can get our real independence back as a Nation.

        FED is still an institution that is controlled by European and Zionist banking Empires (since 1913).

        With the control of the most crucial interest rate decisions they can play the US insdustries and enterprises towards their owners hands against the interests ofg the USA.

        With control over the money and lending they have acces to all financial data - private and public has no difference.

        ReplyDelete
      7. The phrase 'during the current economic crisis' is used to determine the time of interest for the audit, and it may be at once too vague and too restrictive. When did the current economic crisis begin, it it is current? When will transactions or other activities of the entities to be audited be out of bounds for the audit? How far back does the audit start, and if one element worthy of investigation also proves of pressing audit interest, but it started before the period of the 'current economic crisis,' is it out of bounds for audit authority?

        ReplyDelete
      8. i'm just curious if h.r. 4173 is to audit the fed, how come ron paul voted no on the issue.

        ReplyDelete
      9. Paul has been trying to accomplish this since the 80's.
        My guess is the only reason the fed is permitting it to happen now, (remember, they OWN Congress, bought and paid for), is to use it for justification when they are ready to roll out the new currency and a larger regional Central bank, either the Amero, or a global currency.
        Problem reaction solution.

        ReplyDelete
      10. download the book "The Alpha Course" and read about the banking system

        ReplyDelete

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