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For the past 30 years, Ron Paul has worked tirelessly to bring much-needed transparency and accountability to the secretive bank. And in 2009 his unfaltering dedication showed astonishing results: HR 1207, the bill to audit the Federal Reserve, swept the country and made the central bankers shudder at their desks. The bill passed as an amendment both in the House Financial Services Committee and in the House itself.

But the usurpers of America’s future won’t take it lying down. They don’t want their secrets exposed and at this very moment, they are working frantically behind the scenes to quietly derail all efforts to open up the Federal Reserve to independent scrutiny.

A handful of Fed-loving U.S. senators are currently rewriting the Financial Reform Bill to strip out Ron Paul’s Audit the Fed amendment and actually expand the Fed’s power over banks, lending and money.

Action Alert: Call your senators today and demand that they…

1. Stand with the nearly 80% of Americans who support a FULL audit of the Federal Reserve.
2. Withdraw their support for ANY effort to strip the bill of the Audit,
3. Oppose all efforts to grant the Fed more power under the guise of so-called “reform.”

Enter your zip code to look up your senators and their previous position on S 604, the Audit the Fed bill:

Continue reading for more on Audit the Fed…

02/2009: Ron Paul Introduces Bill to Audit the Federal Reserve

On February 26, 2009, Ron Paul introduces HR 1207, the bill to audit the Federal Reserve:

“I rise to introduce the Federal Reserve Transparency Act. Throughout its nearly 100-year history, the Federal Reserve has presided over the near-complete destruction of the United States dollar. Since 1913 the dollar has lost over 95% of its purchasing power, aided and abetted by the Federal Reserve’s loose monetary policy. How long will we as a Congress stand idly by while hard-working Americans see their savings eaten away by inflation? Only big-spending politicians and politically favored bankers benefit from inflation.”

After a groundswell of grassroots support, HR 1207 and its counterpart in the Senate, S 604, attract 317 and 32 co-sponsors respectively.

10/2009: Mel Watt Introduces Competing Placebo Amendment

With HR 1207 gaining momentum, Congressman Mel Watt introduces a competing banker-approved “placebo” amendment that would replace HR 1207 and actually increase the Federal Reserve’s secrecy and power.

11/2009: Mel Watt Amendment Defeated

On November 19, 2009, after several hours of heated debate, Ron Paul’s and Alan Grayson’s “Audit the Fed” amendment passes 43-26 in the House Financial Services Committee. The amendment calls for a comprehensive audit of the Federal Reserve and replaces the opposing “placebo” amendment proposed by Mel Watt.

12/2009: Audit the Fed Passes in the House

The Audit the Fed amendment is attached to Barney Frank’s HR 3996, also known as the “Financial Stability Improvement Act of 2009″. That bill is later combined, along with several other bills, into “The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009 – Financial Stability Improvement Act of 2009″ (HR 4173). The House passes the new bill on December 11, 2009 on a vote of 223-202.

Remaining Milestones Still Ahead

According to Ron Paul’s video update, now that the bill has passed the House, the following milestones are still ahead of us:

• “It has to go through the Senate; it’s going to have a harder time in the Senate.
• Then it has to go to a conference committee and that’s another problem.
• And then it has to go to the President.
• And even if it goes through all that, we still have the courts to deal with, and courts have never been friendly to those of us who want honest money.”

03/2010: Treasury Officials Still Support Mel Watt Amendment!

On March 8, 2010 Huffington Post reporter Sam Stein participated in a bizarre meeting with high level treasury officials:

The Treasury Department is vigorously opposed to a House-passed measure that would open the Federal Reserve to an audit by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a senior Treasury official said Monday. Instead, the official said, the Treasury prefers a substitute offered by Rep. Mel Watt (D-N.C.), and would like to see it enacted as part of the Senate bill.

The Watt measure, however, while claiming to increase transparency, actually puts new restrictions on the GAO’s ability to perform an audit.

Campaign for Liberty Action Alert

Campaign for Liberty President John Tate sent out the following email action alert:

Dear Supporter,

Our battle to Audit the FED has reached a crisis.

Right now, a handful of Fed-loving U.S. Senators, led by Bob Corker (R-TN), Richard Shelby (R-AL), Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Judd Gregg (R-NH), are reportedly working to rewrite from the Financial Reform Bill to strip out Audit the Fed and actually EXPAND the Fed’s power over banks, lending and money.

I need you to contact your senators today with an urgent message: Audit the Fed and DON’T increase the Fed’s power.

As you know, Audit the Fed is currently in H.R. 4173, a financial “reform” package that has passed the House.

The Senate will unveil its version soon, which means you and I have to work fast.

In addition to stripping out transparency and accountability, the Senate version is set to grant the Fed broad NEW powers over our economy by putting the Consumer Financial Protection Agency under the Fed’s purview.

Seriously? The same Fed that won’t tell us where our trillions of dollars went is going to be put in charge of “consumer protection?”

It would be funny if it weren’t so dangerous.

You and I must turn up the heat on the Senate TODAY.

Please contact [your senators] at once!

Of course, as you know, over two thirds of the House of Representatives, almost a third of the Senate and nearly 80% of the American people support a FULL Audit of the Federal Reserve.

So the establishment has no choice but to attempt to fight us in secret.

That’s why they’re trying every trick in the book to make sure they kill a full-scale Audit of the Fed.

And that’s why it has never been more important that you call [your senators] and DEMAND that they withdraw their support for ANY effort to strip the bill of the Audit, and oppose all efforts to grant the Fed more power under the guise of so-called “reform.”

It’s clear that passage of this bill would pretty much guarantee that the FED is never audited, allowing the banksters to continue to rob and loot the American people.

And this sounds like something taken directly out of the Ben Bernanke playbook.

You see, Ben Bernanke and his buddies have been claiming the need for Fed “independence” for some time now.

But what they’re really talking about is independence from accountability…

…Independence to keep printing money out of thin air without any oversight from the American people, further destroying our savings and wiping out the middle class.

That’s why it’s vital you take action IMMEDIATELY.

Please call [your senators] and demand that they stand with the nearly 80% of Americans who support a FULL audit of the Federal Reserve.

You and I are now very close to allowing the American people to have the first ever COMPLETE audit of the Federal Reserve, and without your efforts, Ben Bernanke and his cronies would have nothing to worry about.

But I’m afraid if you and I don’t act right away, all of our efforts up until now will be rendered useless.

And that’s something I’m not going to sit idly by and allow to happen.

If we’re going to stop this attempt to gut Audit the Fed, we must act before it’s too late.

So please, right now, call [your senators] and demand that they support a FULL audit of the Fed and OPPOSE all attempts to broaden the Fed’s power.

And if you can, please make your most generous contribution to help Campaign for Liberty alert millions of Americans to this battle.

But most importantly, please contact [your senators] TODAY.

Sincerely,
John Tate
President

P.S. Fed-loving Senators are working behind closed doors to strip Audit the Fed out of the Financial Reform Bill while granting the Fed even more power.

That’s why it’s vital you IMMEDIATELY call [your senators] and demand they stand with the nearly 80% of Americans who support a FULL audit of the Federal Reserve.

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The Honorable Ben S. Bernanke
Chairman
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Washington, DC 20551

Dear Mr. Chairman:

During your Humphrey-Hawkins testimony before this Committee last week, Representative Ron Paul raised questions about inappropriate political interference with the Federal Reserve System resulting in hidden transfers of resources to facilitate crimes during the Watergate scandal in the 1970s, and to Iraq for weapons purchases during the 1980s. These are serious allegations and must be fully investigated. I expect that you will do so promptly, and share the results of your investigation with Congress.

Given the continued concern about political interference with the Federal Reserve System and allegations about a lack of transparency, these charges cannot be left unaddressed.

Representative Paul cited reports and stonewalled investigations regarding these charges, and, with this letter, I am asking him to share with you whatever information he has that may facilitate your investigation.

The Federal Reserve’s ability to manage monetary policy in an effective manner depends, in large part, on its reputation for independence and integrity. A complete investigation of these charges is necessary to maintain both.

BARNEY FRANK
Chairman

cc: Representative Ron Paul

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Date: 03/03/2010

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Bizarre Spending Habits

by Ron Paul

Last week I had the opportunity to bring up spending and transparency in two important hearings. On Wednesday I questioned Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on some highly questionable uses of funds at the Federal Reserve, and on Thursday I asked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about exorbitant spending at the State Department.

It is extremely important to continue bringing these issues up, especially in light of our difficult economic times, when so many are out of work, as I saw up close in my district at the Oceans of Opportunity Job Fair in Galveston two weeks ago. Those who are working live with the fear of losing their jobs as they struggle to pay bills. Meanwhile, Washington is talking of increasing their taxes, something voters were promised, clearly and adamantly, would not happen in this administration.

Government also struggles with money, but the struggle centers on how to get more of your money into government coffers. Rather than expanding the Federal budget in the face of economic downturn, we should be focusing on eliminating waste and being the very best stewards of public funds that we can possibly be. Most businesses have had to streamline and cut back in order to survive, and so it is only fair for our government to do the same.

Instead, the State Department is building a $1 billion embassy in London, the most expensive ever built. The plans even include surrounding it with a moat! I asked the Secretary of State about this massive expenditure, and she claimed the funds for this were coming from the sale of other properties. If money can be saved, then save it! Don’t spend it on such an extravagant structure overseas when people back home can’t find jobs or pay bills. Not only that, but the administration has committed to doubling foreign aid. That is one promise that is likely to be kept, despite our economic crisis.

I asked Chairman Bernanke about Federal Reserve agreements with foreign central banks and if he had had any conversations about bailing out Greece, which he flatly denied. However, he recently announced that the Federal Reserve will be looking into Goldman Sachs’ derivative agreements with Greece. Goldman Sachs, as we know, has “too big to fail” status with the Fed, so it is conceivable that any Greece-related catastrophic losses at Goldman Sachs will once again be passed on to taxpayers.

Perhaps most sinister are the revelations in Robert Auerbach’s book “Deception and Abuse at the Fed” that $5.5 billion was sent to Saddam Hussein in the 1980s – money that allowed Iraq to build up its military machine to fight Iran prior to the first Gulf War, the very machine turned against our brave men and women within just a few years! I agree with Bernanke’s characterization of this – it is indeed “bizarre” to think that Americans at the Federal Reserve could engage in this type of behavior, which some have called “criminal”. However, Professor Auerbach served as a banking committee investigator, and as an economist at the Treasury Department and at the Federal Reserve. His claims are hardly without merit. In fact, they are solidly backed by court rulings and other evidence.

The lack of accountability and transparency in our leaders on government spending is appalling. We simply must keep pressing these issues and voicing our objections if we are ever to reverse our failed policies.

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Madame Speaker, I would like to enter into the record the following letter from Professor Robert D. Auerbach, a professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas. This letter provides additional information regarding remarks I made at yesterday’s Financial Services Committee Humphrey-Hawkins hearing, remarks which Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke categorized as “bizarre.”

I thank Congressman Ron Paul for bringing to the public’s attention the Federal Reserve coverup of the source of the Watergate burglars’ source of funding and the defective audit by the Federal Reserve of the bank that transferred $5.5 billion from the U.S. government to Saddam Hussein in the 1980s. Congressman Paul directed these comments to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke at the House Financial Services Hearing February 24, 2010. I question Chairman Bernanke’s dismissive response.

BERNANKE: “Well, Congressman, these specific allegations you’ve made I think are absolutely bizarre, and I have absolutely no knowledge of anything remotely like what you just described.”

The evidence Congressman Ron Paul mentioned is well documented in my recent book, Deception and Abuse at the Fed (University of Texas Press: 2008). The head of the Federal Reserve bureaucracy should become familiar with its dismal practices.

First, consider the Fed’s coverup of the source of the $6300 in hundred dollar bills found on the Watergate burglars when they were arrested at approximately 2:30 A.M. on June 17, 1972 after they had broken into the Watergate offices of the Democratic Party. Five days after the break-in, June 22, 1972, at a board of directors’ meeting of officials at the Philadelphia Fed Bank, it was recorded in the minutes [shown on page 23 of my book] that false or misleading information had been provided to a reporter from the Washington Post about the $6,300. Bob Woodward told me he thought he was the Washington Post reporter who had made the phone inquiry. The reporter “had called to verify a rumor that these bills were stolen from this Bank” according to the Philadelphia Fed minutes. The Philadelphia Fed Bank had informed the Board on June 20 that the notes were “shipped from the Reserve Bank to Girard Trust Company in Philadelphia on April 3, 1972.” The Washington Post was incorrectly informed of “thefts but told they involved old bills that were ready for destruction.”

The Federal Reserve under the chairmanship of Author Burns not only kept the Fed from getting entangled in the Watergate coverup, which the Fed’s actions had assisted, it allowed false statements about bills the Fed knew were issued by the Philadelphia Fed Bank to stand uncorrected. Blocking information from the Senate and House Banking Committees [letters shown in my book, Chapter 2] and issuing false information during a perilous government crisis imposed huge costs on the public that had insufficient information to hold the Fed officials accountable for what they had withheld from the Congress. Had the deception been discovered the Fed chairmen following Burns may have been forced to rapidly implement some real transparency to restore the Fed’s credibility. That would have reduced or eliminated many of the lies, deceptions, and corrupt practices that are described in my book.

The second subject brought up by Congressman Ron Paul is the exposure of faulty examinations of the Federal Reserve of a foreign bank in Atlanta, Georgia through which $5.5 billion was sent to Saddam Hussein that a Federal Judge found to be part of United States active support for Iraq in the 1980s.
On November 9, 1993, several federal marshals brought a prisoner, Christopher Drogoul, into my office at the Rayburn House Office Building of the U.S. House of Representatives. The marshals removed the manacles. Drogoul took off his jump suit and changed into a shirt, tie, and business suit. He immediately looked like the manager of the Atlanta agency with domestic headquarters in New York City of Banca Nazionale. Drogoul had come to testify about a “scheme prosecutors said he masterminded that funneled $5.5 billion in loans to Iraq’s Hussein through BNL’s Atlanta operation. Some of the loans allegedly were used to build up Iraq’s military and nuclear arsenals in the years preceding the first Gulf War.”[1]

Drogoul’s “‘off book’ BNL-Atlanta funding to Iraq began in 1986 as financing for products under Department of Agriculture programs.”[2] The loans allegedly had been authorized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Since Drogoul told the committee he was merely a tool in an ambitious scheme by the United States, Italy, Britain and Germany to secretly arm Iraq in their 1980-88 war, the testimony was politically contentious and unproven. He was sentenced in November 1993 to 37 months in prison and he had already served 20 months awaiting his sentencing hearing.

U.S. District Judge Ernest Tidwell found that the United States had actively supported Iraq in the 1980s by providing it with government-guaranteed loans even though it wasn’t creditworthy. The judge said such policies “clearly facilitated criminal conduct.”[3]

Gonzalez was drawn to Drogoul’s answer about the Fed examiner who had visited his Atlanta operation. Gonzalez said that:

“At the November 9, 1993 Banking Committee hearing I asked Christopher Drogoul, the convicted official of the Banca Nazionale Del Lavoro agency branch in Atlanta, Georgia, how the Federal Reserve Bank examiners could miss billions of dollars of illegal loans, most of which ended up in the hands of Hussein.

Mr. Drogoul stated:

“The task of the Fed [bank examiner] was simply to confirm that the State of Georgia audit revealed no major problems. And thus, their audit of BNL usually consisted of a one or two-day review of the state of Georgia’s preliminary results, followed by a cup of espresso in the manager’s office.”

Gonzalez was appalled at the of lack of effective examination of a little storefront bank and also appalled by the gifts exchanged by officers of the New York Federal Reserve and the regulated banks in New York City where the main U.S. office of BNL was located. A description of what followed is in my book.

The Fed voted in 1995 to destroy the source transcripts of its policy making committee that had been sent to National Archives and Records Administration. Chairman Alan Greenspan had the committee vote on this destruction, telling the members: “I am not going to record these votes because we do not have to. There is no legal requirement.” (p. 104 in my book.) Greenspan thus removed any fingerprints on this act of record destruction. Donald Kohn, who is now Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors at the Federal Reserve, answered some questions I had sent to Chairman Greenspan about this destruction. Kohn replied in a letter on November 1, 2001 to me at the University of Texas that they had destroyed the source records for 1994, 1995 and 1996, they did not believe it to be illegal and there was no plan to end this practice. That is one reason why the Federal Reserve audit supported by Congressman Ron Paul is needed. The Fed must stop destroying its records.

[1] Marcy Gordon, “Banker Imprisoned in BNL Case Tells Story to House Committee,” The Associated Press, November 9, 1993.

[2] U.S. Newswire: “Former Executive of Atlanta Agency of Italian-Owned Bank Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy”, from U.S. Department of Justice, Public Affairs, June 2, 1992.

[3] Peter Mantius, “Drogoul given 37 months Judge in BNL case also blasts actions of U.S. prosecutors,” The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, December 10, 1993, Section A, p. 12.

Robert Auerbach is Professor of Public Affairs at the Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs, The University of Texas at Austin. He was an economist with the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee during the tenure of four Federal Reserve Chairmen: Arthur Burns, William Miller, Paul Volcker, and Alan Greenspan. Auerbach also served as an economist in the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Domestic Monetary Affairs during the first year of the Ronald Reagan administration and as a financial economist with the U.S. Federal Reserve System. Auerbach has been a professor of economics at the American University in Washington, D.C. (1976-83), and a professor of economics and finance at the University of California-Riverside (1983-93). He has written numerous articles, and two textbooks in banking and financial markets. He received two Masters degrees in economics, one from the University of Chicago and one from Roosevelt University, where he studied under Abba Lerner, and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago, where he studied under Milton Friedman.

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