Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who already has called several times for a full audit of the Federal Reserve, the quasi-public organization that largely controls U.S. monetary policy, now is tying his effort to Obama’s nominee to the Fed chairmanship.
Paul, whose father, former congressman Ron Paul, sought for years an audit of the Fed, confirmed Friday that as “part of Senate consideration of the Janet Yellen nomination to be chair of the Fed,” he will ask for a positive response to his “Transparency Act.”
The Fed’s current chairman, Ben Bernanke, is expected to step down Jan. 31. Yellen now is the vice chairman.
She needs Senate confirmation, however, and now the senator is linking her prospects to garnering more information about the Fed, which largely has operated behind a screen of secrecy since it was created almost 100 years ago.
While Democrats, who presumably would support their president’s choice, are a majority in the Senate, it would require 60 votes to break a senator’s hold on a candidate. So such a move would require support from at least a handful of Republicans.
The senator’s statement said, “The American people deserve transparency from the Federal Reserve and the federal government as a whole.”
Ron Paul said in an interview with John Stossel on the Fox Business Network that the Federal Reserve has extraordinary power, and Americans at least should be informed of what it’s doing.
More with videos @ WND
No comments:
Post a Comment