L.A. Times: Ron Paul wins a key battle in war to open Fed's books

November 19, 2009 | 5:42 pm

Rep. Ron Paul, the Texas Republican who is perhaps the Federal Reserve’s most implacable enemy, scored a big win Thursday on Capitol Hill: The House Financial Services Committee approved adding to a financial-system reform bill Paul’s provision to begin federal reviews of the central bank’s interest-rate decisions.

The vote on the audit provision amendment was 43-26.

Paul has for years asserted that the Fed, which by design is independent of the federal government, was corrupt and that its monetary policy would drive America to ruin by debasing the dollar.

Endthefed He has sought to abolish the Fed entirely, but because that almost certainly would never fly in Congress, Paul has worked for Plan B: He wants the Government Accountability Office to have full power to audit the central bank’s operations -- a measure the Fed bitterly opposes.

"If we get the audit and get the books open, make them answer the questions, I am convinced that the American people will be so outraged that then we will have reform of the monetary system," Paul has said.

Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke told Congress in June that Paul’s audit provision "would effectively be a takeover of policy by the Congress . . . [and] would be highly destructive to the stability of the financial system, the dollar and our national economic situation."

Paul contends that the Fed is overreacting. Here's how he describes what the provision would do: