Sanders Wimps Out; Paul Backs the Vitter amendment

The New American says $Trillion Bailout of Euro, Greece Shows Need to Audit the Fed

The timing of the sellout by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) last Thursday, May 6, on legislation to audit the Federal Reserve could not have been more auspicious -- or more suspicious. After pledging for months that he was going to offer an amendment in the Senate identical to "Audit the Fed" legislation in the House (H.R. 1207) authored by Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas), Sanders caved in to pressures from the Obama administration and the Federal Reserve.

In a last-minute switch, Sanders agreed to substitute a watered-down version of the audit as an amendment to financial reform legislation sponsored by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.).

The new Sanders amendment would provide the administration, the Fed, and Members of Congress with a certain level of cover, allowing them to claim that they had supported auditing the Fed, while at the same time allowing the Fed to continue most of its operations in secret, beyond the scrutiny of Congress and the public. The effort to push the Sanders amendment through on a rush vote on May 6 failed thanks to the efforts of Senator David Vitter (R-La.), a fierce Fed critic, who insisted on a side-by-side vote of the Sanders sellout amendment with the original audit amendment.

With the vote in the Senate possibly coming as soon as Tuesday, May 12, champions of genuine transparency are urging an all-out push to flood the Senate with emails, calls, and faxes to oppose the Sanders sellout amendment and support the Vitter amendment.

It's Not Too Late To Call

Ron Paul says It's NOT Too Late To Call Your Senator And Demand a Thorough Fed Audit.

Senator Offers Grayson/Paul Audit the Fed Amendment as Stand-Alone Amendment

The Daily Paul reports Sen. Vitter to Offer Grayson/Paul Audit the Fed Amendment as Stand-Alone Amendment

While some are celebrating the Sanders' Audit the Fed compromise as a victory, Ron Paul isn't one of them. And according to the Matt Hawes of the Campaign for Liberty, David Vitter will be offering up the original Grayson-Paul amendment as a stand-alone amendment.

Although Ron Paul called Bernie Sanders and asked him to offer the bill in the Senate in the first place, Bernie evidently didn't consult Paul or Grayson on his compromise. Paul found out about it when Bernie mentioned it from the floor of the Senate. Regardless of any merits of the Sanders amendment itself, procedurally it was not handled in a way that would insure left/right cooperation in the future. That's something we worked very hard to structure from the start of the Audit the Fed campaign over a year ago. And, I might add, it was the only reason Audit the Fed didn't suffer the fate of Kaufman's "break up the banks" amendment last night.

Ron Paul: Fed Audit Under Fire

In Texas Straight Talk Ron Paul discusses Fed Audit Under Fire

It doesn't come as too much of a surprise that the measure to audit the Federal Reserve is coming under continuous fire from the central bank and its cronies. For the first time since the Federal Reserve was created nearly a century ago, they have hired an actual lobbyist to pound the pavement on Capitol Hill. This is a desperate effort to hang on to the privilege of secrecy and lack of accountability they have enjoyed for so long. Last week showed they are getting their money's worth in the Senate.

At the very last minute on the floor of the Senate, supposed compromise language was agreed to and substituted in the Sanders Amendment to the Financial Reform Bill. This language was acceptable to the administration, committee leadership, and to the Fed. The trouble is, while it is better than no audit at all, it guts the spirit of a truly meaningful audit of the most crucial transactions of the Fed. In fact, rather than still calling the Sanders Amendment an audit, maybe it should instead be called more of a disclosure at this point. ....

Taxpayers are sick and tired of bailing out privileged, dysfunctional institutions that should be allowed to fail in order to stop their ability to wreak havoc on our economy. More importantly, agreements with foreign central banks are not touched by the new Sanders Amendment language. At a time when Greece, Portugal, Spain and other countries are experiencing dire financial crises and have their hands out to the international community, we need to know if our Federal Reserve is at all involved in bailing them out.

While the Sanders Amendment no longer contains a full audit, Senator David Vitter has introduced an amendment which contains the Audit the Fed language that passed the House last fall. The Senate must pass the Vitter amendment for full disclosure and full accountability going forward.

Posted by Ron Paul (05-10-2010, 12:39 PM) filed under Monetary Policy

One More Time!

Many of you have called asking for the Sanders amendment. Unfortunately, that amendment is no longer worth much.

Please phone and fax your senators and tell them you want the Fed audited fully.

Specifically say "I want a complete audit of the Fed and support Vitter amendment"

Here is a directory sorted by state of all the Senators of the 111th Congress.

You can also look up the phone numbers in the Online Directory For The 111th Congress but the first link may be easier to use for just senators.

Addendum:

From the Huffington Post

UPDATE: Sanders will get a vote on his amendment Tuesday at 11:30 a.m., followed by a vote on Vitter's more comprehensive amendment. Paul is urging a yes vote on both. Splitting the action into two votes could give Fed defenders an opportunity to split the bipartisan coalition, with Republicans generally voting for the Vitter amendment and Democrats generally voting for Sanders -- leaving neither with enough to get over the top.

Ask your Senators to support both the Sanders and the Vitter amendment, but also say you strongly prefer a full audit and the Vitter amendment.