Senate Rejects ‘Audit the Fed’ Bill as an Amendment
Representative Ron Paul continues to receive cosponsors on his Audit the Fed bill (H.R. 1207). With 245 cosponsors in total, one has to wonder why this bill has been unable to move ahead in the House for floor debate and an eventual floor vote.
The Senate companion bill (S. 604) offered by Senator Bernard Sanders (R-VT) carries only 3 cosponsors (Senators Mike Crapo, R-ID; Jim DeMint, R-SC; and David Vitter, R-LA). However, the Senate version of the bill had a chance for passage when Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) opted to attach S. 604 to the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act (H.R. 2918) as an amendment. DeMint’s attempt to force the Senate to consider the bill through the amendment process failed when Senate leaders rejected having a vote on the amendment claiming it violated Senate rules. The appropriations bill passed without a vote on the DeMint amendment, even though the bill had several other provisions for the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to audit various other agencies. (Click here for a video of Senator DeMint’s statement on his amendment.)
This issue cannot be ignored forever. With more and more support to audit the Federal Reserve, congressional leaders will soon have to deal with this issue in one way or another.
Continue to contact Congress and urge them to support H.R. 1207 and S. 604. If your representative and senators are co-sponsors already – GREAT! If not, you should continue to call, e-mail, or visit their office. Let them know that you support a complete audit of the Federal Reserve and that you wish for them to become a sponsor of either H.R. 1207 or S. 604.
Thank you,
Your friends at The John Birch Society