A House subcommittee is scheduled to hold a hearing on proposals to reform or end the Federal Reserve System, Texas Republican Rep. Ron Paul announced last Friday.
The Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology Subcommittee will hear testimony from economists and lawmakers Tuesday morning on Capitol Hill.
“More and more people are beginning to understand just how destructive the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy has been,” Paul, who chairs the subcommittee, said in a press release. “The Fed continues to reward Wall Street banks while destroying the dollar’s purchasing power and driving up the cost of living for average Americans. This reckless behavior must come to an end.”
The subcommittee will consider several bills, including Paul’s Federal Reserve Board Abolition Act and measures introduced by Rep. Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat and the outgoing ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee.
Paul’s proposed bill would abolish the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the Federal Reserve Act. It would require a year-long transition period in which all outstanding liabilities of the Federal Reserve Bank would become the responsibility of the secretary of the Treasury.
In a 2009 statement when he first introduced the bill, Paul said that “abolishing the Federal Reserve and returning to a constitutional system will enable America to return to the type of monetary system envisioned by our nation’s founders: one where the value of money is consistent because it is tied to a commodity such as gold. Such a monetary system is the basis of a true free market economy.”
Paul’s outcry about the abuses of the Federal Reserve System have gained traction in recent years, culminating in the inclusion of an audit of the Federal Reserve in the Dodd-Frank bill to ramp up financial regulations. The audit revealed over $16 trillion of secret loans to American and foreign banks. Lawmakers were not happy.
“As a result of this audit, we now know that the Federal Reserve provided more than $16 trillion in total financial assistance to some of the largest financial institutions and corporations in the United States and throughout the world,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Democrat from Vermont. “This is a clear case of socialism for the rich and rugged, you’re-on-your-own individualism for everyone else.”
“The Federal Reserve has been creating money out of thin air for forty years now,” Paul explained, “And they’ve ramped up the printing presses during these five years of crisis — all in the name of economic stability. But there are consequences to massive amounts of money creation. … Indeed, these Fed actions helped cause the very crisis we’re suffering from today.”
With the Federal Reserve under so much scrutiny, Paul hopes that this hearing will further the public discussion about the policies and actions of the Federal Reserve.
“I hope that this hearing will kickstart a serious discussion on the need to rein in the Fed. 100 years is far too long for Congress to have taken a hands-off approach,” Paul said.
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