Audit the Fed Amendment Passes 43-26!

[buster2209]

Oddly enough, Mel Watt scores an F- on the GOA website.....

http://www.ronpaul.com/2009-11-19/au...-passes-43-26/

Audit the Fed Amendment Passes 43-26!

By tmartin • November 19, 2009

After a heated debate that lasted several hours, the Paul-Grayson “Audit the Fed” amendment passed 43-26 in the House Financial Services Committee earlier today. The amendment calls for a comprehensive audit of the Federal Reserve and replaces the opposing “placebo” amendment proposed by Mel Watt.

The Paul-Grayson initiative is an amendment to Barney Frank’s HR 3996, also known as the “Financial Stability Improvement Act of 2009″. The Committee was going to vote on that bill today, but Barney Frank surprisingly postponed the vote until after the Thanksgiving recess:

(Rep. Barney) Frank told the panel that most of the members pushing him to postpone the vote were members of the Congressional Black Caucus who said that the political environment wasn’t right for a vote this afternoon.

“It’s my understanding,” Frank said, “that the issues being addressed are not internal to this bill.” In other words, the Democrats were not expressing particular problems with the bill itself, but the larger problems in the economy made them reluctant to support a bill that could be portrayed as too friendly to Wall Street.

Ron Paul sent out the following press release shortly after the amendment passed:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Ron Paul (TX-14) is pleased to announce that his and Congressman Grayson’s amendment based on HR 1207 has passed in the Financial Services Committee by a vote of 43-26 and will be included in major banking reform legislation.

The Paul/Grayson amendment:

* Removes the blanket restrictions on GAO audits of the Fed
* Allows audit of every item on the Fed’s balance sheet, all credit facilities, all securities purchase programs, etc.
* Retains limited audit exemption on unreleased transcripts and minutes
* Sets 180-day time lag before details of Fed’s market actions may be released
* States that nothing in the amendment shall be construed as interference in or dictation of monetary policy by Congress or the GAO

“While HR 3996, if passed, will grant sweeping new powers to the Federal Reserve, at least with this amendment attached, it won’t be acting in secret anymore. This is a major victory for Federal Reserve transparency and government accountability,” stated Congressman Paul.

How they voted (HR 1207 co-sponsors in bold):

Democrats
MA-04 Rep. Barney Frank nay
PA-11 Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski nay
CA-35 Rep. Maxine Waters nay
NY-14 Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney nay
IL-04 Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez nay
NY-12 Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez nay
NC-12 Rep. Melvin L. Watt nay
NY-05 Rep. Gary L. Ackerman nay
CA-27 Rep. Brad Sherman yay
NY-06 Rep. Gregory W. Meeks nay
KS-03 Rep. Dennis Moore nay
MA-08 Rep. Michael E. Capuano nay
TX-15 Rep. Rubén Hinojosa yay
MO-01 Rep. William Lacy Clay yay
NY-04 Rep. Carolyn McCarthy nay
CA-43 Rep. Joe Baca
MA-09 Rep. Stephen F. Lynch nay
CA-42 Rep. Gary G. Miller nay
GA-13 Rep. David Scott yay
TX-09 Rep. Al Green nay
MO-05 Rep. Emanuel Cleaver nay
IL-08 Rep. Melissa L. Bean nay
WI-04 Rep. Gwen Moore nay
NH-02 Rep. Paul W. Hodes yay
MN-05 Rep. Keith Ellison nay
FL-22 Rep. Ron Klein nay
OH-06 Rep. Charles Wilson nay
CO-07 Rep. Ed Perlmutter yay
IN-02 Rep. Joe Donnelly nay
IL-14 Rep. Bill Foster nay
IN-07 Rep. Andre Carson nay
CA-12 Rep. Jackie Speier yay
MS-01 Rep. Travis Childers yay
ID-01 Rep. Walt Minnick yay
NJ-03 Rep. John Adler yay
OH-15 Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy nay
OH-01 Rep. Steve Driehaus yay
FL-24 Rep. Suzanne Kosmas yay
FL-08 Rep. Alan Grayson yay
CT-04 Rep. Jim Himes nay
MI-09 Rep. Gary Peters yay
NY-25 Rep. Dan Maffei yay


Republicans

AL-06 Rep. Spencer Bachus yay
TX-19 Rep. Randy Neugebauer yay
DE-01 Rep. Michael N. Castle yay
NY-03 Rep. Peter King yay
CA-40 Rep. Edward R. Royce yay
OK-03 Rep. Frank D. Lucas yay
TX-14 Rep. Ron Paul (sponsor) yay
IL-16 Rep. Donald A. Manzullo yay
NC-03 Rep. Walter B. Jones yay
IL-13 Rep. Judy Biggert yay
NC-13 Rep. Brad Miller

WV-02 Rep. Shelley Moore Capito yay
TX-05 Rep. Jeb Hensarling yay
NJ-05 Rep. Scott Garrett yay
SC-03 Rep. J. Gresham Barrett yay
PA-06 Rep. Jim Gerlach yay
GA-06 Rep. Tom Price yay
NC-10 Rep. Patrick T. McHenry yay
CA-48 Rep. John Campbell yay
FL-12 Rep. Adam Putnam yay
MN-06 Rep. Michele Bachmann yay
TX-24 Rep. Kenny Marchant yay
MI-11 Rep. Thaddeus McCotter yay
CA-22 Rep. Kevin McCarthy yay
FL-15 Rep. Bill Posey yay
KS-02 Rep. Lynn Jenkins yay
NY-26 Rep. Christopher Lee yay
MN-03 Rep. Erik Paulsen yay
NJ-07 Rep. Leonard Lance yay

[archangel689]

It will come to the federal police barring the doors to the fed before they allow an actual real audit to occur. Keep fighting.

[andrewjs18]

I actually watched most of this live...glad to see there are people still supporting this bill.