A plan to open the Federal Reserve to the same scrutiny that almost all other federal government operations endure is overwhelmingly supported by the American people, according to a new poll by Rasmussen Reports. The survey found that 75% of Americans favor auditing the Fed and publicizing the results. The same kind of support can be found in Congress, where members on the left and right who rarely come together are supporting the change.
A House bill by libertarian congressman and former presidential candidate Ron Paul (R-TX) would give the
Government Accountability Office the power to examine the books of the national bank, whose leaders object to the idea, arguing that it would compromise the Fed’s independence.
H.R. 1207 has 281 cosponsors who span the political spectrum from leftist Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) to arch-conservative
Michelle Bachmann (R-MN).
A similar proposal introduced in the Senate (S. 604) was introduced by Senator Bernard Sanders (I-VT), a self-described “democratic socialist,” yet it is cosponsored by such hard-core conservatives as Jim DeMint (R-SC) and Tom Coburn (R-OK).
-Noel Brinkerhoff