H.R. 1207, better known as the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009, has surpassed 218 cosponsors and sits at 222, with Dennis Kuccinich being the latest addition.  That means that the bill cosponsored by the majority of the House of representatives.  Not just the Republican majority or the Democratic majority, the whole majority.

This is excellent news people, but once the House passes the bill, it will have to go through Senate, and that’s the risky part.  It might be modified too heavily by the Senate to even make a difference, or it may not even be passed at all.

Don’t have a clue what HR 1207 is?  Check out my bill breakdown here.

And use the link below to call your Senators right away, tell them to vote YES on H.R. 1207 when it comes to their mailbox!!!!!

List of Senators

Full text

This bill was introduced by Ron Paul on February 26, 2009 and is designed to bring more transparency to the Federal Reserve system. I’ll break the bill down to a friendlier version, so that you can understand what it asks for and what it does not ask for. Let’s get started with the very first sentence:

Section 2 (a) of the bill refers to section 714 of title 31, USC:

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(a) In General- Subsection (b) of section 714 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by striking all after ‘shall audit an agency’ and inserting a period.

here is subsection (b) of section 714 of title 31, USC, before the proposed amendment:

Under regulations of the Comptroller General, the Comptroller General shall audit an agency, but may carry out an onsite examination of an open insured bank or bank holding company only if the appropriate agency has consented in writing. Audits of the Federal Reserve Board and Federal reserve banks may not include—

(1) transactions for or with a foreign central bank, government of a foreign country, or nonprivate international financing organization;

(2) deliberations, decisions, or actions on monetary policy matters, including discount window operations, reserves of member banks, securities credit, interest on deposits, and open market operations;

(3) transactions made under the direction of the Federal Open Market Committee; or

(4) a part of a discussion or communication among or between members of the Board of Governors and officers and employees of the Federal Reserve System related to clauses (1)–(3) of this subsection.

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In other words, the Comptroller General is not allowed to audit a government insured bank or bank holding company without their consent (which they will almost never give). The Comptroller General is also forbidden from auditing the Federal Reserve.

Here is that same subsection if HR 1207 is passed:

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Under regulations of the Comptroller General, the Comptroller General shall audit an agency.

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much better if you ask me. (BUT NO!! WE NEED REGULATIONS TO STOP GREEDY PEOPLE!!)

Now here is Section 2 (b) of the Federal Reserve Transparency Act:

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Audit- Section 714 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:

(e) Audit and Report of the Federal Reserve System-

(1) IN GENERAL- The audit of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal reserve banks under subsection (b) shall be completed before the end of 2010.

(2) REPORT-

(A) REQUIRED- A report on the audit referred to in paragraph (1) shall be submitted by the Comptroller General to the Congress before the end of the 90-day period beginning on the date on which such audit is completed and made available to the Speaker of the House, the majority and minority leaders of the House of Representatives, the majority and minority leaders of the Senate, the Chairman and Ranking Member of the committee and each subcommittee of jurisdiction in the House of Representatives and the Senate, and any other Member of Congress who requests it.

(B) CONTENTS- The report under subparagraph (A) shall include a detailed description of the findings and conclusion of the Comptroller General with respect to the audit that is the subject of the report, together with such recommendations for legislative or administrative action as the Comptroller General may determine to be appropriate.

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this new subsection (e) details the process for submitting a report of the audit along with recommended legislative actions or policy changes by the Comptroller General, and it ensures that the report is available to any member of congress (and therefore any citizen) who requests a copy of it.

This bill requires audits of the Federal Reserve and its board of governors, and requires that those audits be public knowledge. This legislation makes perfect sense considering the economic conditions at the moment.

Update: HR 1207 now has 39 cosponsors in the house, and an identical companion bill, SB604, in the senate.  This thing is well on its way to a vote, let’s just hope it’s the right one.

My favorite democrat, Dennis Kucinich, mentions an idea that sounds like it came directly from my favorite Republican, Ron Paul:

“I’ve got a whole different approach, which says ‘take the federal reserve…and put it under Treasury’, so we can finally have some control over our monetary policies.”

yes, that would be the constitutional thing to do:

Article 1, Section 8, United States Constitution:

The Congress shall have power to…

To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;