The Federal Reserve attack dogs are out in full force

The Federal Reserve attack dogs are out in full force today following Congressman Ron Paul's decisive victory in the battle to bring transparency to the privately owned central bank.

The House Financial Services Committee passed the amendment to increase Federal Reserve transparency in an overwhelming and bipartisan vote of 43 to 26.

The amendment, sponsored by Ron Paul and Democratic Representative Alan Grayson, mandates a genuine and full probing audit of the Fed.

The Committee rejected the parallel amendment introduced by Congressman Mel Watt (D-NC) which would have severely limited the audit, "gutting" Ron Paul's H.R. 1207 bill as the Congressman put it, and paving the way for further Fed secrecy.

Key Committee Democrats such as Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) who had previously expressed support for an audit, had moved behind the Watt amendment at the behest of banking industry and Fed officials, as well as the Democratic leadership.

Had the alternative provision passed, those individuals would have succeeded in appearing to support transparency while actually protecting the Fed from any real examination.

The success is significant because it proves beyond doubt that there is true bipartisan support for H.R. 1207. Barney Frank had pushed for a no vote on the Paul/Grayson amendment, but 15 Democrats defied him to vote with Ron Paul.

The vote acknowledges the fact that representatives on both sides of the political spectrum are sick to the back teeth of the the incessant pillaging of America's economic security by a handful of financial elites who have bought and paid for the leadership of both parties.
The power the Fed now holds has vastly increased over the past twelve months owing to the fall out of the financial crisis, yet it continues to operate in total secrecy. Its chairman and other officials act as if their unfettered power is a god given right, and they express loathing and contempt when they are simply asked to describe and explain their actions to Congress and the American people.
The establishment was forced to move against the tide of momentum to audit the Fed by introducing it's own watered down legislation. However, they acted too late and they have been thoroughly crushed.
"Today was Waterloo for Fed secrecy," a victorious Grayson noted following the vote.

"We are happy to see the Financial Services Committee preserve a measure to bring true Fed transparency," said John Tate, President of Ron Paul's Campaign for Liberty. "This amendment helps to ensure that real and complete audit legislation remains unaltered, and from here on out we will continue to push for a standalone floor vote of H.R. 1207."

In addition, a further bill sponsored by Grayson and Paul also passed - this requires written concurrence by the Treasury Secretary prior to the Fed engaging in a foreign currency swap.

Predictably, in response to this victory, the Fed has come out in force in today's press with former chairmen Alan Greenspan and Paul Volcker, along with former vice chairman Alan S. Blinder all penning attack pieces about how harmful the move to audit the Fed remains.

While Binder's piece appeared in the Washington Post, Greenspan and Volcker sent their letter to the Financial Committee's chairman and ranking Republicans.

Knowing that the tired counter of "this is harmful to the Fed's independence" would be wheeled out again, Ron Paul addressed his detractors on the issue during the hearings yesterday, making it clear that the argument holds no weight, noting that H.R. 1207 and the amendment are not about regulation of the Federal Reserve, the powers it holds or political influence on monetary policy.

"'Independence' means secrecy, it doesn't mean anything else." Paul noted.

"We live in an age where the American people are sick and tired of this. They are sick and tired of secret government and government out of control and Congress passing TARP funds and on and on with nobody knowing what happened." the Congressman asserted.

Ron Paul's Remarks:

Rep Grayson's Remarks:

Full list of voters on the Paul/Grayson amendment:

AL-06 Rep. Spencer Bachus - yay
CA-12 Rep. Jackie Speier- yay
CA-22 Rep. Kevin McCarthy - yay
CA-27 Rep. Brad Sherman - yay
CA-35 Rep. Maxine Waters - nay
CA-40 Rep. Edward R. Royce - yay
CA-42 Rep. Gary G. Miller - nay
CA-43 Rep. Joe Baca - nay
CA-48 Rep. John Campbell - yay
CO-07 Rep. Ed Perlmutter - yay
CT-04 Rep. Jim Himes - nay
DE-01 Rep. Michael N. Castle - yay
FL-08 Rep. Alan Grayson - yay
FL-12 Rep. Adam Putnam - yay
FL-15 Rep. Bill Posey - yay
FL-22 Rep. Ron Klein - nay
FL-24 Rep. Suzanne Kosmas

GA-06 Rep. Tom Price - yay
GA-13 Rep. David Scott - yay
ID-01 Rep. Walt Minnick - yay
IL-04 Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez - nay
IL-08 Rep. Melissa L. Bean - nay
IL-13 Rep. Judy Biggert - yay
IL-14 Rep. Bill Foster - nay
IL-16 Rep. Donald A. Manzullo - yay
IN-02 Rep. Joe Donnelly - nay
IN-07 Rep. Andre Carson - nay
KS-02 Rep. Lynn Jenkins - yay
KS-03 Rep. Dennis Moore - nay
MA-04 Rep. Barney Frank - nay
MA-08 Rep. Michael E. Capuano - nay
MA-09 Rep. Stephen F. Lynch - nay
MI-09 Rep. Gary Peters - yay
MI-11 Rep. Thaddeus McCotter - yay
MN-03 Rep. Erik Paulsen - yay
MN-05 Rep. Keith Ellison - nay
MN-06 Rep. Michele Bachmann - yay
MO-01 Rep. William Lacy Clay - yay
MO-05 Rep. Emanuel Cleaver - nay
MS-01 Rep. Travis Childers - yay
NC-03 Rep. Walter B. Jones - yay
NC-10 Rep. Patrick T. McHenry - yay
NC-12 Rep. Melvin L. Watt - nay
NC-13 Rep. Brad Miller - nay
NH-02 Rep. Paul W. Hodes - yay
NJ-03 Rep. John Adler - yay
NJ-05 Rep. Scott Garrett - yay
NJ-07 Rep. Leonard Lance - yay
NY-03 Rep. Peter King - yay
NY-04 Rep. Carolyn McCarthy - yay
NY-05 Rep. Gary L. Ackerman - nay
NY-06 Rep. Gregory W. Meeks - nay
NY-12 Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez - yay
NY-14 Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney - nay
NY-25 Rep. Dan Maffei - yay
NY-26 Rep. Christopher Lee - yay
OH-01 Rep. Steve Driehaus - yay
OH-06 Rep. Charles Wilson - nay
OH-15 Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy - nay
OK-03 Rep. Frank D. Lucas - yay
PA-06 Rep. Jim Gerlach - yay
PA-11 Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski
SC-03 Rep. J. Gresham Barrett - yay
TX-05 Rep. Jeb Hensarling - yay
TX-09 Rep. Al Green - nay
TX-14 Rep. Ron Paul - yay
TX-15 Rep. Rubén Hinojosa - yay
TX-19 Rep. Randy Neugebauer - yay
TX-24 Rep. Kenny Marchant - yay
WI-04 Rep. Gwen Moore - nay
WV-02 Rep. Shelley Moore Capito - nay

Full statment from Campaign For Liberty:

Thanks to your quick action in contacting Congress, the House Financial Services Committee earlier today rejected Representative Mel Watt's attempt to hijack Audit the Fed by voting 43-26 to pass Ron Paul's amendment to the financial regulatory reform bill.

Dr. Paul called me right after the vote to personally express his thanks to C4L members for all of your efforts!
It is an incredible testament to the growing power of the liberty movement that we were able to get such an audit passed by a major House committee, but this is by no means the end of our fight.
Financial Services leadership has seemed determined for several months that if an audit of the Fed were to get out of Committee, it should be attached to an overall regulatory reform package that would actually increase the powers of the Fed to interfere in our economy.
Congressman Paul's amendment gives the Government Accountability Office power to conduct a thorough audit of the Fed's entire $2 trillion balance sheet and replaces the Watt language that would have further restricted GAO audits of the Federal Reserve.
While this is a victory over an attempted hijacking of our cause, the audit authority is still being rolled into the Financial Stability Improvement Act, a bill that Campaign for Liberty will oppose.
This Act will be voted on as soon as the Committee returns from its Thanksgiving break, and we will then know if it will move to the floor.
And it's already becoming clear that Ron Paul's amendment may face challenges on the House floor.
Now is the time to turn up the pressure!
Keep contacting Congress and tell your representative that before Congress debates over giving the Fed any new powers, we need to know what they're doing with the ones they already have!
Urge your representative to support a standalone, up or down vote on Audit the Fed, H.R. 1207.
We've put too much work into this effort to see an audit bogged down in yet another Washington bureaucratic nightmare.
Make no mistake, though, the victory today proved we can get the votes to pass the thorough, historic audit we've been fighting for this past year. We have put the Federal Reserve on notice that the freedom movement is serious about reclaiming our country and that it is here to stay.
Thanks for all you do for the cause of freedom. Now, let's finish this fight!