Ron Paul: Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the “Belarus Democracy Act” reauthorization. This title of this bill would have amused George Orwell, as it is in fact a US regime-change bill. Where does the United States Congress derive the moral or legal authority to determine which political parties or organizations in Belarus — or anywhere else — are to be US-funded and which are to be destabilized? How can anyone argue that US support for regime-change in Belarus is somehow “promoting democracy”? We pick the parties who are to be supported and funded and somehow this is supposed to reflect the will of the Belarusian people? How would Americans feel if the tables were turned and a powerful foreign country demanded that only a political party it selected and funded could legitimately reflect the will of the American people?

I would like to know how many millions of taxpayer dollars the US government has wasted trying to overthrow the government in Belarus. I would like to know how much money has been squandered by US government-funded front organizations like the National Endowment for Democracy, the International Republican Institute, Freedom House, and others meddling like the old Soviet Union in the internal politics of a country that has neither threatened nor attacked the United States. It the arrogance of our foreign policy establishment that leads to this kind of schizophrenic legislation, where we demand that the rest of the world bend to the will of US foreign policy and we call it “democracy.” We wonder why we are no longer loved and admired overseas.

Finally, I strongly object to the sanctions that this legislation imposes on Belarus. We must keep in mind that sanctions and blockades of foreign countries are considered acts of war. Do we need to continue war-like actions against yet another country? Can we afford it?

I wish to emphasize that I take this position not because I am in support of the regime in Belarus, or anywhere else. I take this position because it is dangerous folly to be the nation that arrogates to itself the right to determine the leadership of the rest of the world. As we teeter closer to bankruptcy, it should be more obvious that we need to change our foreign policy to one of constructive engagement rather than hostile interventionism. And though it scarcely should need to be said, I must remind my colleagues today that we are the U.S. House of Representatives, and not some sort of world congress. We have no constitutional authority to intervene in the wholly domestic affairs of Belarus or any other sovereign nation.

Many Americans continue to fool themselves into accepting TSA abuses by saying “I don’t mind giving up my freedoms for security.” In fact, they are giving up their liberties and not receiving security in return. Time and time again we see the revolting pictures of federal screeners with their hands down the pants of children while parents watch helplessly in agony. We see elderly or disabled Americans being forced to endure all manner of indignity. At the same time, we repeatedly hear of passengers who seem to check all the boxes marked “suspicious activity” slipping through unencumbered. Just recently we read of a Nigerian immigrant breezing through TSA security checks to board a flight from New York to LA — with a stolen, expired boarding pass and an out-of-date student ID as his sole identification. We should not be surprised to find government ineptitude and indifference at the TSA, however.

What we ultimately need is real privatization of security, but not phony privatization with the same TSA screeners in private security firm uniforms still operating under the “guidance” of the federal government. Real security will be achieved when the airlines are once again in charge of protecting their property and their passengers.

To move us in that direction, I am today introducing the American Traveler Dignity Act, which establishes that any federal employee or agency or any individual or entity that receives Federal funds are not immune from any US law regarding physical contact with another person, making images of another person, or causing physical harm through the use of radiation-emitting machinery on another person. It means they are not above laws the rest of us must obey. As we continue to see more and more outrageous stories of TSA abuses and failures, I hope that my colleagues in the House will listen to their constituents and join with me to support this legislation.

Hard as it is to believe, the federal government is actually spending time and money prosecuting small businesses for the “crime” of meeting their customers’ demand for unpasteurized milk! Recently the Food and Drug Administration conducted a year-long sting operation targeting Rainbow Acres Farms in Pennsylvania. As a result of this action, Rainbow Acres’ customers will no longer be able to purchase unpasteurized milk from this small Amish farm.

Mr. Speaker, many Americans who the government wishes to deny the ability to purchase unpasteurized milk have done their own research and come to the conclusion that unpasteurized milk is healthier than pasteurized milk. These Americans have the right to consume these products without having the federal government second-guess their judgment about what products best promote health. If there are legitimate concerns about the safety of unpasteurized milk, those concerns should be addressed at the state and local level.

I urge my colleagues to join me in promoting individual rights, the original intent of the Constitution, and federalism by cosponsoring my legislation to allow the interstate shipment of unpasteurized milk and milk products for human consumption.

Text of the bill:

112th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. R. 1830

To authorize the interstate traffic of unpasteurized milk and milk products that are packaged for direct human consumption.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

May 11, 2011

Mr. PAUL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

A BILL

To authorize the interstate traffic of unpasteurized milk and milk products that are packaged for direct human consumption.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. INTERSTATE TRAFFIC OF UNPASTEURIZED MILK AND MILK PRODUCTS.

(a) Sale Allowed- Notwithstanding the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 301 et seq.), section 361 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 264), and any regulations or other guidance issued under such Act or section, a Federal department, agency, or court may not take any action (such as administrative, civil, criminal, or other actions) that would prohibit, interfere with, regulate, or otherwise restrict the interstate traffic of milk, or a milk product, that is unpasteurized and packaged for direct human consumption, if such restriction is based on the determination that, solely because such milk or milk product is unpasteurized, such milk or milk product is adulterated, misbranded, or otherwise in violation of Federal law.

(b) Definitions- In this section, the following definitions apply:

(1) The terms `interstate traffic’, `milk’, and `milk product’ have the meanings given those terms in section 1240.3 of title 21, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect on the date of enactment of this Act).

(2) The term `packaged for direct human consumption’ means milk and milk products that are packaged for the final consumer and intended for human consumption. Such term does not include milk and milk products that are packaged for additional processing, including pasteurization, before being consumed by humans.

(3) The term `pasteurized’ means the process of heating milk and milk products to the applicable temperature specified in the tables contained in section 1240.61 of title 21, Code of Federal Regulations (or successor regulations), and held continuously at or above that temperature for at least the corresponding specified time in such tables.

This is history in the making, and victory is within reach. Imagine what will happen if HR 459, The Federal Reserve Transparency Act, comes up for vote in Congress! It has real potential to pass — BUT only if we educate and rally the people to support it and get our Congresspeople to put it to vote and pass it.

Step 1: Your Representative

If your representative is not on the following list of HR 459 co-sponsors, call their offices, write to them, email them. Let them know they need to support HR 459. If you live in their district, let them know. Go to their office.

Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121

Enter your zip code to contact your representative:

HR 459 Co-Sponsors

Rep Alexander, Rodney [LA-5] – 1/26/2011
Rep Amash, Justin [MI-3] – 2/8/2011
Rep Bachus, Spencer [AL-6] – 1/26/2011
Rep Bartlett, Roscoe G. [MD-6] – 1/26/2011
Rep Barton, Joe [TX-6] – 1/26/2011
Rep Bilirakis, Gus M. [FL-9] – 1/26/2011
Rep Blackburn, Marsha [TN-7] – 1/26/2011
Rep Broun, Paul C. [GA-10] – 1/26/2011
Rep Buchanan, Vern [FL-13] – 2/8/2011
Rep Burgess, Michael C. [TX-26] – 1/26/2011
Rep Burton, Dan [IN-5] – 1/26/2011
Rep Calvert, Ken [CA-44] – 1/26/2011
Rep Campbell, John [CA-48] – 1/26/2011
Rep Canseco, Francisco “Quico” [TX-23] – 2/8/2011
Rep Carter, John R. [TX-31] – 2/8/2011
Rep Chaffetz, Jason [UT-3] – 1/26/2011
Rep Coffman, Mike [CO-6] – 1/26/2011
Rep Davis, Geoff [KY-4] – 2/8/2011
Rep Dreier, David [CA-26] – 2/8/2011
Rep Duncan, John J., Jr. [TN-2] – 2/8/2011
Rep Fincher, Stephen Lee [TN-8] – 2/8/2011
Rep Flores, Bill [TX-17] – 1/26/2011
Rep Forbes, J. Randy [VA-4] – 1/26/2011
Rep Fortenberry, Jeff [NE-1] – 1/26/2011
Rep Gallegly, Elton [CA-24] – 1/26/2011
Rep Garrett, Scott [NJ-5] – 1/26/2011
Rep Gerlach, Jim [PA-6] – 1/26/2011
Rep Gohmert, Louie [TX-1] – 1/26/2011
Rep Graves, Tom [GA-9] – 1/26/2011
Rep Heller, Dean [NV-2] – 1/26/2011
Rep Huizenga, Bill [MI-2] – 1/26/2011
Rep Jones, Walter B., Jr. [NC-3] – 1/26/2011
Rep Kaptur, Marcy [OH-9] – 1/26/2011
Rep Kucinich, Dennis J. [OH-10] – 1/26/2011
Rep Lamborn, Doug [CO-5] – 1/26/2011
Rep Lance, Leonard [NJ-7] – 1/26/2011
Rep Lankford, James [OK-5] – 2/8/2011
Rep LaTourette, Steven C. [OH-14] – 1/26/2011
Rep LoBiondo, Frank A. [NJ-2] – 1/26/2011
Rep Luetkemeyer, Blaine [MO-9] – 2/8/2011
Rep Marchant, Kenny [TX-24] – 1/26/2011
Rep McCaul, Michael T. [TX-10] – 1/26/2011
Rep McClintock, Tom [CA-4] – 1/26/2011
Rep McKeon, Howard P. “Buck” [CA-25] – 1/26/2011
Rep McKinley, David B. [WV-1] – 1/26/2011
Rep McMorris Rodgers, Cathy [WA-5] – 1/26/2011
Rep Miller, Gary G. [CA-42] – 1/26/2011
Rep Miller, Jeff [FL-1] – 1/26/2011
Rep Mulvaney, Mick [SC-5] – 2/8/2011
Rep Myrick, Sue Wilkins [NC-9] – 1/26/2011
Rep Nugent, Richard [FL-5] – 2/8/2011
Rep Petri, Thomas E. [WI-6] – 1/26/2011
Rep Posey, Bill [FL-15] – 1/26/2011
Rep Reed, Tom [NY-29] – 1/26/2011
Rep Rehberg, Denny [MT] – 1/26/2011
Rep Rigell, E. Scott [VA-2] – 2/8/2011
Rep Rohrabacher, Dana [CA-46] – 1/26/2011
Rep Ross, Dennis [FL-12] – 1/26/2011
Rep Ross, Mike [AR-4] – 2/8/2011
Rep Schock, Aaron [IL-18] – 1/26/2011
Rep Schweikert, David [AZ-5] – 2/8/2011
Rep Simpson, Michael K. [ID-2] – 1/26/2011
Rep Smith, Adrian [NE-3] – 1/26/2011
Rep Smith, Lamar [TX-21] – 1/26/2011
Rep Thompson, Glenn [PA-5] – 1/26/2011
Rep Westmoreland, Lynn A. [GA-3] – 2/8/2011
Rep Wittman, Robert J. [VA-1] – 1/26/2011
Rep Woodall, Rob [GA-7] – 1/26/2011
Rep Woolsey, Lynn C. [CA-6] – 1/26/2011
Rep Young, C.W. Bill [FL-10] – 1/26/2011
Rep Young, Don [AK] – 1/26/2011

Step 2: Your Senator

HR 459′s identical companion bill in the Senate is known as S 202, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2011, sponsored by Sen. Rand Paul.

If your Senator is not on the following list of S 202 co-sponsors, call their offices, write to them, email them. Let them know they need to support S 202. If you live in their district, let them know. Go to their office.

Enter your zip code to contact your senators:

S 202 Co-Sponsors

Sen DeMint, Jim [SC] – 1/26/2011
Sen Vitter, David [LA] – 1/26/2011

Check out the Audit the Fed page to read the bill itself, as well as two sample letters you can use when writing your Representatives and Senators.

Click here for the abbreviated version (with background music)

Ron Paul introduced legislation to protect Americans from physical and emotional abuse by federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees conducting screenings at the nation’s airports:

A BILL – HR 6416

To ensure that certain Federal employees cannot hide behind immunity.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. NO IMMUNITY FOR CERTAIN AIRPORT SCREENING METHODS.

No law of the United States shall be construed to confer any immunity for a Federal employee or agency or any individual or entity that receives Federal funds, who subjects an individual to any physical contact (including contact with any clothing the individual is wearing), x-rays, or millimeter waves, or aids in the creation of or views a representation of any part of a individual’s body covered by clothing as a condition for such individual to be in an airport or to fly in an aircraft. The preceding sentence shall apply even if the individual or the individual’s parent, guardian, or any other individual gives consent.

Ron Paul introduced the “American Traveler Dignity Act” (HR 6416) with the following words. (This is a transcript of his actual speech.)

Ron Paul: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise this evening to announce that I introduced some legislation today dealing with the calamity that we have found at our airports with TSA. Something has to be done. Everybody is fed up. The people are fed up, the pilots are fed up, I’m fed up.

You know, I’ve come to this floor many times over the past many years and complained about the terrible foreign policy we’ve had, the terrible monetary policy we’ve had, the excessive spending and the debt and also the tax policy. But what we’re doing and what we’re accepting in putting up with at this airport is so symbolic of us just not standing up and saying, “Enough is enough”.

I know the American people are starting to wake up, but our government, those in charge – Congress as well as the executive branch – are doing nothing. Yes, they’re talking about maybe backing off and allowing the pilots to go through. But can you think how silly the whole thing is? The pilot has a gun in the cockpit, and he’s managing this aircraft, which is a missile, and we make him go through this groping x-ray exercise, having people feeling their underwear. It’s absurd, and it’s time we wake up.

The bill I’ve introduced will take care of this. But we have to realize that the real problem is that the American people have been too submissive, we have been too submissive. It’s been going on for a long time, and this was to be expected even from the beginning of the TSA and it’s deeply flawed. Private property should be protected by private individuals, not bureaucrats.

But the bill that I’ve introduced will take care of it. It’s very simple, it’s one paragraph long. It removes the immunity from anybody in the federal government that does anything that you or I can’t do. If you can’t grope another person and if you can’t x-ray people and endanger them with possible x-rays, you can’t take nude photographs of individuals, why do we allow the government to do it? We would go to jail. He’d be immediately arrested if an individual citizen went out and did these things, and yet we just sit there calmly and say, “Oh, they’re making us safe”.

And, besides, the argument from the executive branch is that when you buy a ticket, you have sacrificed your rights, and it is the duty of the government to make us safe. That isn’t the case. You never have to sacrifice your rights. The duty of the government is to protect our rights, not to abuse them and do what they have been doing to us. The pilots hopefully will be exempted from this.

But another suggestion I have that might help us: let’s make sure that every member of Congress goes through this. Get the x-ray and make them look at the pictures, and then go through one of those groping pat downs. And then I think there will be a difference. Have everybody in the executive branch, anybody who is a cabinet member, make them go through it and look at it. Maybe they would pay more attention.

But this doesn’t work, this is not what makes us safer, this is preposterous to think that the TSA has made us safer.

You know, when you think about it, if you look at what’s happened over the past 10 years, during this last decade, we lost 3000 on a terrible, terrible day for America. But since that time in this last decade, we have also lost 6,000 of our military personnel going over there and trying to rectify this problem. We have lost 400,000 people on our government-run highways. We have lost 150,000 individuals from homicides. So I think there’s reason to be concerned, reason to deal with this problem. We’re not dealing with it the right way, we’re doing the wrong thing, and groping people at the airport doesn’t solve our problems.

What has solved our problems, basically, has been that they put a good lock on the door and they put a gun inside the cockpit. That’s been the greatest boon to our safety. Safety should be the responsibility of the individual and the private property owner. But right now, we assume the government’s always going to take care of us and we’re supposed to sacrifice our liberties. I say that is wrong, we are not safer and we also know there are individuals who are making money of this. Michael Chertoff; I mean, here’s a guy who was the head of the TSA – selling the equipment. And the equipment is questionable; we don’t even know if it works, and it may well be dangerous to our health.

You know, the way I see this; if this doesn’t change, I see what has happened to the American people is we have accepted the notion that we should be treated like cattle. “Make us safe, make us secure, put us into barbed wire, feed us, fatten us up”, and then they’ll eat us. And we’re a bunch of cattle if we have to wait and say, “We’ve had it”. I think this whole idea of an opt-out day is just great. We ought to opt-out and make the point, get somebody to watch it and take a camera, it’s time for the American people to stand up, shrug off the shackles of our government and TSA at the airport.

These are Ron Paul’s prepared remarks:

Ron Paul: Mr. Speaker, today I introduce legislation to protect Americans from physical and emotional abuse by federal Transportation Security Administration employees conducting screenings at the nation’s airports. We have seen the videos of terrified children being grabbed and probed by airport screeners. We have read the stories of Americans being subjected to humiliating body imaging machines and/or forced to have the most intimate parts of their bodies poked and fondled. We do not know the potentially harmful effects of the radiation emitted by the new millimeter wave machines.

In one recent well-publicized case, a TSA official is recorded during an attempted body search saying, “By buying your ticket you gave up a lot of rights.” I strongly disagree and am sure I am not alone in believing that we Americans should never give up our rights in order to travel. As our Declaration of Independence states, our rights are inalienable. This TSA version of our rights looks more like the “rights” granted in the old Soviet Constitutions, where freedoms were granted to Soviet citizens — right up to the moment the state decided to remove those freedoms.

The incident of the so-called “underwear bomber” last Christmas is given as justification for the billions of dollars the federal government is spending on the new full-body imaging machines, but a Government Accountability Office study earlier this year concluded that had these scanners been in use they may not have detected the explosive material that was allegedly brought onto the airplane. Additionally, there have been recent press reports calling into question the accuracy and adequacy of these potentially dangerous machines.

My legislation is simple. It establishes that airport security screeners are not immune from any US law regarding physical contact with another person, making images of another person, or causing physical harm through the use of radiation-emitting machinery on another person. It means they are subject to the same laws as the rest of us.

Imagine if the political elites in our country were forced to endure the same conditions at the airport as business travelers, families, senior citizens, and the rest of us. Perhaps this problem could be quickly resolved if every cabinet secretary, every member of Congress, and every department head in the Obama administration were forced to submit to the same degrading screening process as the people who pay their salaries.

I warned at the time of the creation of the TSA that an unaccountable government entity in control of airport security would provide neither security nor defend our basic freedom to travel. Yet the vast majority of both Republicans and Democrats then in Congress willingly voted to create another unaccountable, bullying agency– in a simple-minded and unprincipled attempt to appease public passion in the wake of 9-11. Sadly, as we see with the steady TSA encroachment on our freedom and dignity, my fears in 2001 were justified.

The solution to the need for security at US airports is not a government bureaucracy. The solution is to allow the private sector, preferably the airlines themselves, to provide for the security of their property. As a recent article in Forbes magazine eloquently stated, “The airlines have enormous sums of money riding on passenger safety, and the notion that a government bureaucracy has better incentives to provide safe travels than airlines with billions of dollars worth of capital and goodwill on the line strains credibility.” In the meantime, I hope we can pass this legislation and protect Americans from harm and humiliation when they choose to travel.

Date: 08/02/2010

Recent news reports have publicized the little-noticed provision in the recently-passed financial reform package that the Securities and Exchange Commission has used to deny requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act. Paul’s bill would repeal the provision in the newly-passed legislation the SEC has used to deny FOIA requests.

“It is unfortunate, yet not unexpected, that legislation touted as fixing problems with the banking system actually makes them worse and provides more cover and power for organizations that failed us like the SEC and the Fed,” Paul said in introducing the bill. “I expect in the coming weeks and months that many more harmful provisions like this will come to light and it will take quite a bit of work to undo the damage from this massive and misguided legislation.”

Freshman Republicans Recognize Rep. Ron Paul for His Legislation to Bring Greater Transparency to Government Institutions

Led by U.S. Representative Steve Austria (R-OH), the House Republican Freshman Class of the 111th Congress unanimously voted U.S. Representative Dr. Ron Paul’s (R-TX) legislation, H.R. 1207, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009, as the BEST LEGISLATION FILED during the 111th Congress.

Representative Austria presented Dr. Paul with a Certificate of Appreciation from Freshman Members for his efforts to bring about greater accountability and transparency in our public institutions and to thank him for his many years of service and dedication to the cause of liberty and the promotion of free market principles.

“As new members, we understand that the American people are not happy with the ‘closed door, backroom deal-making’ approach to government that has come to characterize Washington in recent years. Passage of your legislation would begin to move our government back into the sunlight where it belongs,” said Freshman Republicans in a letter to Dr. Paul.

“Transparency is an important building block of our public institutions,” said Representative Bill Posey (R-FL) who made the motion to nominate Dr. Paul’s legislation. “Representative Paul’s legislation, combined with his efforts over his many years of service, has made a positive contribution toward maintaining the freedoms which the Founders of our nation intended us all to have.”

The GOP had offered the Fed audit as the minority’s last chance to alter the financial regulation bill. The bill does have an watered-down audit provision in the conference report, but it is limited to loans made by the Fed during the height of the economic crisis. Ron Paul’s bill would have allowed a total examination of the Fed’s books.

How they voted

Democrats, Republicans, HR 1207 Co-Sponsors

YEA

NAY

Not Voting

Bishop (UT)
Taylor
Wamp
Woolsey
Young (AK)

In support of this motion, Representative Paul has written an “Audit the Fed” post for the “America Speaking Out” website. Check it out here and show your support by voting for the idea and leaving a comment.

You can find out more about the motion to recommit here.

GOPers To Push Fed Audit

House GOPers will make a push to audit the Federal Reserve in a last-ditch effort to stop financial regulatory reform legislation, leaning on a popular proposal from Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) to make their case.

The GOP will offer the Fed audit as a motion to recommit, the minority’s last chance to alter a bill before final passage. A motion to recommit is subject only to an up-or-down vote, not to debate or amendments.

The regulatory reform measure does have an audit provision in the conference report, but it is limited to loans made by the Fed during the height of the economic crisis. Paul’s bill would allow a total examination of the Fed’s books.

Paul’s legislation has 320 co-sponsors, including Dems as diverse as Reps. Jason Altmire (D-PA), a centrist, and Steve Cohen (D-TN), a liberal.

But it’s unlikely to pass as a motion to recommit, which would send the conference committee back to the drawing board for a third time. House and Senate Dems reached agreement Tuesday night on a revamped package after Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME), 2 key GOPers who voted for the Senate version, said they could not vote for the first conference report. Negotiators ended up dropping a proposed $18B bank tax to help pay for the bill.

Call Congress and urge your representative to support Audit the Fed (especially if they’re a cosponsor) by voting for the motion to recommit on H.R. 4173. If final passage of the Dodd-Frank bill comes up for a vote, demand they oppose this latest government move to interfere in the economy.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

House GOP Champions Paul’s “Audit the Fed”

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Paul was pleased today when House Republicans submitted a Motion to Recommit the financial regulatory reform bill as a last effort to include his provision to fully audit the Federal Reserve in the final version.

The conference committee failed to include this provision, supported by 320 Members of the House, in the final version of the massive reform bill, which grants sweeping new regulatory powers to the Federal Reserve, while doing nothing to address the root causes of current economic problems.

“It is foolish to grant more powers to the institutions that caused all the moral hazard and malinvestments that got us into this mess. It is doubly foolish to do so without any meaningful accountability or transparency,” stated Congressman Paul.

Unfortunately, the Motion to Recommit was defeated 198 to 229 and the final bill passed the House shortly afterwards