Of 435 people in Congress, 308 of them co-sponsored a bill by Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) to not only audit the Federal bank but: “To amend title 31, United States Code, to reform the manner in which the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is audited by the Comptroller General of the United States and the manner in which such audits are reported, and for other purposes.”
H.R. 1207 and its related bill in the Senate S. 604 would have had far reaching exposure as to how the Fed does business, and to expose the way business has been done in the past.
The popularity of this bill, bridged both sides of the aisle, as Democrats and republicans alike signed on to demand transparency in yet another governmental agency, but alas, this bill was “gutted” in a congressional committee, specifically by a Democrat whose campaign contributions by the banking industry, were the largest in his committee.
In a telephone interview with Bloomberg, Rep. Paul reported that the teeth had been ripped out of the bill.
"There's nothing left; it's been gutted," Paul said. "This is not a partisan issue. People all over the country want to know what the Fed is up to, and this legislation was supposed to help them do that."
Rep. Paul pointed his finger at the chairman of the House Financial Service Committee's panel on domestic monetary policy, Rep. Mel Watt (D-N.C.) for eliminating "just about everything" in preparation for the bill's consideration on the floor of the House.
Watt’s campaign contributions in the 2008 cycle amounted to $609,072, but the largest portion was from the banking and financial institutions, a whopping 35.6 % or $217,109!
Contributors to Watt’s campaign were Bank of America, Wachovia Corp., American Express and the American Bankers Association.
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