Political Quotes

“As has been recounted by my friend from Massachusetts, the amendment which was in the bill that would have given the GAO the ability to audit the Fed was taken out of the bill; and the bill, as it was introduced originally, is before this Congress. I question the wisdom of moving on this bill, absent a provision to audit the Fed prior to the Senate acting because suppose the Senate, which has the ability to go any direction on this, suppose the Senate strips out the provision that I did support, the Ron Paul provision, the Senate strips that out, and then we have stripped out a provision in our bill. It just sends a signal to the Fed that it's business as usual. That's the reason I am raising this question right now, because it hasn't passed the Senate. If it passed the Senate, I would not be on the floor challenging this legislation. Because if it had been passed, it went through conference, then finally at last the Fed is going to be held accountable; but we aren't that far along yet. So I bring on the first day of legislative action in this second session of the 111th Congress a bill to the floor that essentially gives the Fed what they want, which is they don't want any oversight at all. And why was this brought forward in the first place? Because Congress and our committee, particularly, depend on the Government Accountability Office and the audits and the reviews they perform to assist us in helping us justify our oversight responsibilities.…”