All right! HR 1207, the Paul-Grayson Bill to Audit the FED (FDL)

[chill_wind]

FDL Statement on the Committee Passage of H.R. 1207, the Paul-Grayson Bill to Audit the Fed
By: Jane Hamsher Friday November 20, 2009 7:00 am

Alan Grayson has worked tirelessly since becoming a member of Congress to expose the corruption and lack of accountability at the Federal Reserve, and Firedoglake has been proud to support his efforts.

When nobody was really paying attention, Grayson began working to sign Democratic cosponsors to Ron Paul’s H.R. 1207, which authorizes the GAO to conduct a wide-ranging audit of the Fed — something that has never been done it its history. Thanks to his efforts, the bill has gone from 190 to 311 bipartisan cosponsors.

When a last-minute attempt by leadership and the banks threatened to derail the Paul-Grayson bill, Firedoglake circulated a letter signed by labor leaders, noted economists, authors and financial bloggers to demonstrate progressive support for the effort. The letter pulled no punches, asserting that the Fed had “extended massive secret bailouts to major financial institutions” and calling upon Democrats on the Financial Services Committee to stand up to the banks by supporting the Paul-Grayson bill.

Despite the vocal opposition of Chairman Barney Frank and the fierce lobbying on the part of the central bank itself, 15 Democrats bucked leadership and the measure passed. According to the Huffington Post, “Key to winning Democratic support was a letter posted early Thursday from labor leaders and progressive economists” which was “organized by the liberal blog Firedoglake…Grayson was able to show Democratic colleagues that the liberal base was behind them.” During the committee debate, Grayson quoted from the letter.

more: http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2009/11/19/fdl-statement-on-the-committee-passage-of-h-r-1207-the-paul-grayson-bill-to-audit-the-fed/

[kerrywins]

1. This is an Absolute Must....We Need to Audit the Fed

Of course, they will never let that happen....
once audited, they probably realize they will be closed down.

[chill_wind]

7. The Banksters are already circling the wagons. We ain't seen nothing yet.

They tried to strangle this in the crib days ago, circulating fear-mongering "top economists" opinion letters to the House Committee, never disclosing the authors' ties to the FED:

Economists Opposing Fed Audit Have Undisclosed Fed Ties

As the debate over an audit of the Federal Reserve intensifies in the House, one camp is trotting out eight academics ( http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/EconomistsLetter.pdf ) that it calls a "political cross section of prominent economists."

A review of their backgrounds shows they are anything but.

In a letter to the House Financial Services Committee earlier this month, all eight wrote that they support the type of amendment now being introduced by Rep. Mel Watt (D-N.C.). Watt's approach purports to increase Fed transparency while it actually would tighten restrictions on any audits that could go forward.

(...)

the rest: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/18/economists-opposing-fed-a_n_362287.html

Where have we seen THAT before?

[kerrywins]

8. even if Ron Paul's bill passes.....I still don't think they would allow an audit...

Bernake and Geithner would simply ignore any requests to audit....

[chill_wind]

11. Which is why

Congress needs to go after Geithner and ALSO some structural part of the vampire squid, of which he is just a function, at the same time. True, we are in for a completely uphill fight. No manner of the absolute worst threats and slimey dirt in politics will be left undealt.

[kerrywins]

12. Federal Reserve Funds Both Parties' Schemes

So, neither wants to touch it.....

[chill_wind]

15. They could have gone with the weaker Mel Watt amendment

which is what the banksters were favoring, to make it look like Congress was "doing something."

Something more is going on here. Remember, House Dems helped the bipartisan defeat of the bailout bill in it's first round. There are some good Dems signed on here, who just may be trying to get this done.

[Luminous Animal]

2. This is something that both the left & the right can rally behind.

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2009/11/20/transparency/index.html

(1) Our leading media outlets are capable of understanding political debates only by stuffing them into melodramatic, trite and often distracting "right v. left" storylines. While some debates fit comfortably into that framework, many do not. Anger over the Wall Street bailouts, the control by the banking industry of Congress, and the impenetrable secrecy with which the Fed conducts itself resonates across the political spectrum, as the truly bipartisan and trans-ideological vote yesterday reflects. Populist anger over elite-favoring economic policies has long been brewing on both the Right and Left (and in between), but neither political party can capitalize on it because they're both dependent upon and subservient to the same elite interests which benefit from those policies.

For that reason, many of the most consequential political conflicts are shaped far more by an "insider v. outsider" dichotomy than by a "GOP v. Democrat" or "Left v. Right" split. The pillaging of America's economic security by financial elites, with the eager assistance of the government officials who they own and who serve them, is the prime example of such a conflict. The political system as a whole -- both parties' leadership -- is owned and controlled by a handful of key industry interests, and anger over the fact is found across the political spectrum. Yesterday's vote is a very rare example where the true nature of political power was expressed and the petty distractions and artificial fault lines overcome.

[chill_wind]

3. And Independents and In-betweens. Truth. Thanks for posting that.

Good article. They really miscalculated public sentiment about the bailout politics when they tried to make it a left-right thing.

[slipslidingaway]

4. knr - great news n/t

[chill_wind]

19. Thanks. I'll take any good news I can get

:hi:

[slipslidingaway]

21. Me too! :) n/t

[chill_wind]

5. Act Blue! Grayson needs help to keep fighting for this

2/3 of the House onboard, but a push to get it removed is already underway, per FDL today:

Yesterday shocked everyone. In an unprecedented move, the House Financial Services Committee voted to approve an amendment by Ron Paul and Alan Grayson to audit the Federal Reserve — the first time anything like this has happened in the Fed’s history.

A push is already under way to remove the amendment on the House floor. Scott Lanman of Bloomberg:

Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke has opposed the Paul legislation, saying it may result in interference with monetary policy.


“It’s going to be seen as weakening the independence of monetary policy with consequent negative implications,” Barney Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat who chairs the committee, told reporters after the vote. “People are going to be worried about the impact on the dollar, on the interest rate.”

Frank, who opposed the Paul measure, said the issue “may be revisited” when the legislation reaches the House floor.


http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2009/11/20/help-us-help-alan-grayson-save-federal-reserve-audit-bill/

Here's the Bill & the Co-Sponsors.

H.R. 1207: Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009


http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-1207



FDL: Help us help Grayson save the bill

http://www.actblue.com/page/auditthefed

[BeFree]

6. I'd bet

Obama has his eyes on this Grayson fellow.

And that Obama put in a good word to see this bill move through congress.

The FED took these actions first under Bush and who doesn't want to know what was done?

[chill_wind]

9. I haven't heard his comment, if any. Has anyone?

[kerrywins]

10. Obama and Bush both gave us bailouts and war

they both got the bailouts through....they both are warhawks destined to keep us in Iraq, Afgan, and now trying to push Pakistan and Iran.....

different names, same person.....

they both will do whatever it takes to keep the fed in power....

without a Federal Reserve that can print unlimited dollars, they can't fund their bailouts/wars....

end of story

[slipslidingaway]

16. This bill would shine some spotlight on Geithner's actions while head...

of the NY Fed and I'm not sure Obama would want that.

:shrug:

Also Obama was in favor of the bailout, I can remember him saying that if we had known a month earlier we might have been able to do something different ... as if the crisis suddenly appeared one day. I can also remember Obama calling for the CEO's of the auto companies to answer questions to Congress before one dime was given to them, not so with the banks. Thought it strange they were given such different treatment.

[anonymous171]

13. K&R. nt

[chill_wind]

14. Thanks. n/t

[FLAprogressive]

17. think Barney Frank is a progressive? think again....he's bought and paid for.

[chill_wind]

18. I've been meaning to get around to him--

I believe I read that he opposes this amendment.

[FLAprogressive]

20. he does.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

27. These past 12 months have been brutal for Barney...

...and enlightening for the rest of us. He has come out smelling like a douche-bag.

[Odin2005]

22. K&R

[chill_wind]

23. The needle hasn't really moved a lot

at ActBlue on this today.

http://www.actblue.com/page/auditthefed

:shrug:

[slipslidingaway]

24. Ron Paul HR1207 Committee Debate on Watt Amendment: Alan Grayson 11/19/2009

Video....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9CcdiNs5F8


FWIW adding this thread to the HR 1207 thread in the Congress forum, a good place to consolidate info on a particular bill...IMHO.

:)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=308&topic_id=909&mesg_id=909

[chill_wind]

25. Good idea. Thanks for doing that.

:-)

[slipslidingaway]

26. Not many people post in that forum so it is easy to find a thread....

;-)