Lankford Wants to Audit the Fed

WASHINGTON, DC – Senator James Lankford (R-OK) joined Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) to reintroduce the Federal Reserve Transparency Act or the “Audit the Fed” bill to prevent the Federal Reserve from concealing vital information on its operations from Congress.

“Congress can’t fix what we can’t see, including the Federal Reserve,” said Lankford. “The Fed is an integral financial institution, but it should not be immune from full congressional oversight and accountability to the American people, especially with its wide policy latitude on our economy and discretion on emergency lending programs. Now that my Taxpayers Right-to-Know Act is law, we will be able to take a close look at how taxpayer dollars are spent in a full federal inventory. Senator Paul’s Audit the Fed bill gives us similar tools so GAO can keep Congress up to date on how the Federal Reserve is handling its books.” 

“Audit the Fed is a widely supported grassroots movement that aims to shake up the Washington establishment’s spending addiction,” said Dr. Paul. “It is by far time Congress passes this legislation to hold the Federal Reserve accountable to the people’s representatives.”

This legislation would require the nonpartisan, independent Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a thorough audit of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors and reserve banks within one year of the bill’s passage and to report back to Congress within 90 days of completing the audit.

Audit the Fed would amend US Code to allow the GAO to fully audit:

• transactions for or with a foreign central bank, government of a foreign country, or nonprivate international financing organization;
• 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;
• transactions made under the direction of the Federal Open Market Committee; or
• a part of a discussion or communication among or between members of the Board and officers and employees of the Federal Reserve System related to clauses (1)–(3) of this subsection.

Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) has reintroduced companion legislation, H.R. 24, in the US House.

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