[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12156]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             AUDIT THE FED

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from West 
Virginia (Mr. Mooney) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MOONEY of West Virginia. Mr. Speaker, few institutions are as 
powerful and as secretive as the Federal Reserve.
  The Federal Reserve's monetary policy impacts the prices every 
American pays at the grocery store; the ability of businesses to obtain 
the capital necessary to create new jobs; and the value of investments 
the average American relies on to provide for their families, educate 
their children, and enjoy a secure retirement.
  Despite the Fed's enormous power, Congress continues to allow the Fed 
to conduct monetary policy in secret. While the Government 
Accountability Office is allowed to perform limited audits of the Fed, 
it is forbidden by law from auditing. In other words, the Congress has 
forbidden the Government Accountability Office from examining how the 
Fed conducts monetary policy, its most important function.
  Allowing the Fed to conduct monetary policy in secret is a failure of 
Congress' duty to carry out meaningful oversight of the Federal 
Reserve. Congress and the people we represent deserve to know the full 
truth about the Federal Reserve.

                              {time}  1100

  This is why one of my first acts upon coming to this House was to 
cosponsor the Federal Reserve Transparency Act, H.R. 24, introduced by 
my friend Thomas Massie of Kentucky.
  This simple two-page bill authorizes a full audit of the Fed's 
monetary functions and is popularly known as ``Audit the Fed.''
  The passage of this bill will allow the American people to finally 
get a better picture of the Fed's operations, including its dealings 
with large financial institutions and foreign central banks.
  Contrary to the claims of the Fed and its supporters, nothing in this 
bill gives Congress any new authority over the Federal Reserve.
  It simply allows Congress to get a retrospective look at how the Fed 
carries out monetary policy so that Congress and the people can fully 
understand, evaluate, and oversee the Fed's actions.
  Audit the Fed has twice passed the House by overwhelming majorities 
and is supported by almost 80 percent of the American people. Yet, 
former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid blocked the bill from coming 
to the floor for a vote in the U.S. Senate.
  Senator Reid's replacement as majority leader, Senator Mitch 
McConnell, is a cosponsor of S. 264, the Senate version of Audit the 
Fed, which has been introduced by Kentucky Senator Rand Paul.
  It is finally time for a vote in the U.S. Senate as well. The passage 
of Audit the Fed is more important than ever, given the Federal 
Reserve's actions since the 2008 financial crisis.
  Following the financial meltdown, the Fed commenced an unprecedented 
program of trillion-dollar bailouts for Wall Street. The Fed's poor 
track record over the past decade is not an irregularity.
  Since the Fed's creation, the dollar has lost 97 percent of its 
purchasing power. Allowing the Federal Reserve to continue operating in 
secrecy may benefit certain well-placed individuals, but it has not 
benefited my constituents in West Virginia.
  It is time to bring transparency to monetary policy. It is time to 
tear down the Fed's wall of secrecy. It is time to audit the Fed.

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