Outing The Fed (William Grieder,The Nation)

[chill_wind]

William Grieder's thoughts just a day prior to passage. His opinion on this, one I admire.

Outing the Fed
William Greider
May 10, 2010

The weirdness of this political system is reflected in the fact that it takes a Socialist senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders, and a libertarian Republican from Texas, Rep. Ron Paul, to beat the banking lobby. The Democrats are making a show of "Wall Street reform" but choking on the tough issues. Republicans are in the tank, as expected, though nervous about the public fury.

Sanders and Paul, however, found an opening with their bill to force a GAO audit of the sacrosanct Federal Reserve. This is a big deal, much bigger than most imagine. Congress has sputtered for years about the Fed’s imperious secrecy but never found the nerve to do anything. The Sanders-Paul audit bill, if it passes, will only be a first breach in the wall, but it promises to keep alive popular demands for more fundamental reforms.

(see full article)

When Sanders had clearly developed majority support, Senator Chris Dodd, the banking chair, sued for compromise. Sanders gave up some ground (and was instantly denounced as a "sellout’ by rightwing blogger) but the limited compromise was not fatal (and might still be repaired in conference negotiations with the House). The most important thing Sanders gave up was authorization for ongoing audits every year. Now it will be one time only. But Sanders did get agreement the Federal Reserve would immediately post its "party favors" on the web for all to investigate.

This victory—if and when it’s complete—is a major marker on the road to much deeper reform of the central bank—its sheltered monetary policy, the concentrated power of the financial system and the cowardly habits of Congress. This year’s reform, in other words, is only the beginning. More facts will insure that the public does not lose its anger but instead raises its demands.

Update, May 11, 2010: The Senate adopted the Sanders amendment, 96-0, which does not indicate its meaningless. In these weird times, senators don't want to stand for the Fed if they can avoid it.

http://www.thenation.com/article/outing-fed

(bold emphasis mine)

[The Northerner]

1. K&R

[DJ13]

2. One problem

Paul didnt support the compromises Sanders introduced in the last week and ended up supporting the Vitter (yech) bill.

[chill_wind]

3. The Daily Bail has some on that.

I lost track for a few days of what Paul was up to.

FWIW, they had this and a bit more at the link.

Ron Paul has changed his mind and is now asking Senators to vote 'YES' on both the Sanders compromise amendment and David Vitter's version, which has the exact same language as the original Grayson-Paul House bill.

Paul is worried about support disintegrating along party lines and fears that neither amendment will pass as Republicans support Vitter and Democrats go with Sanders.

I am hurrying to get this story published. I will be adding links, video and comment from Ron Paul shortly.

---

From David Dayen at FDL

Ron Paul has backed off his intense initial criticism of the Sanders compromise on the audit the Fed amendment, saying that he supports passage of a measure that ensures “their sins of the past would be revealed and Americans would know more about who got bailed out by the Fed and under what terms.” He doesn’t think that goes far enough, however, and also endorses an amendment from David Vitter which includes the original Grayson-Paul audit language, above what he terms a “one-time disclosure.”

(It’s important to note that there is already language in the bill that would force disclosure of future emergency lending in a similar fashion. So while calling this a “one-time” audit diminishes its impact, it actually brings the prior lending during the crisis in line with the standard going forward, which encourages more transparency. Not to mention the fact that this disclosure, if it yields anything politically explosive, surely would not be the end of the fight, and would improve the chances for more explorations into the Fed’s activities and reform of their operations.)

http://dailybail.com/

[DJ13]

4. Thanks for clearing that up

I based my comment on this, which doesnt sound as up to date-

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/05/ron-paul-says-its-not-too-late-to-call.html