Ron Paul triumphant: House passes his beloved "Audit the Fed" bill.

[Bradley K Sherman]

http://blog.chron.com/txpotomac/2012/07/ron-paul-triumphant-
house-passes-his-beloved-audit-the-fed-bill/

It was Ron Paul’s biggest legislative triumph in years — perhaps
the capstone in a congressional career that began in 1976.

The House today passed the 76-year-old Texan’s “audit the Fed”
bill which is intended to create transparency in the Federal
Reserve.

House passage of the Lake Jackson lawmaker’s bill, which will
allow Congress’s investigators to audit of the Federal Reserve’s
methods of decision-making, marks a high point for the Texas
Republican, who is retiring at the end of the current session of
Congress.

The bill was approved by an overwhelming tally of 327-98, and is
now on its way to the Senate, marking a high point for
supporters of an audit, who have been pushing for one for years.

Paul shed light on the issue during his past two presidential
campaigns, claiming the bill will allow Congress to start to
reclaim its constitution-granted financial and banking powers.

The main opposition to the bill, naturally, was from the
Democrats in Congress, who expressed doubt that the bill will
ever become a law, and concern over the potential perception
among financial markets that lawmakers are interfering in
financial issues.

“It seems to me what we’re talking about is taking some fake
punches at the Federal Reserve but not doing anything serious,”
Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the top Democrat on the House
Financial Services Committee told the Washington Times on
Wednesday.

Joining Frank in opposition was Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, who
called the audit a “nightmare scenario” and claimed it would
lead many politicians to second-guess his choices.

But Paul, during debate on the bill, told listeners that “it is
up to us to reassert ourselves.”