Sen. Ben Nelson Blocks Fed Audit In Senate (VIDEO)
Nelson Blocks Fed Audit In Senate (VIDEO)
Boding poorly for advocates of transparency for the Federal Reserve, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) shot down legislation to audit the Fed Wednesday afternoon that's patterned closely on the Ron Paul bill that has already gained majority support in the House.
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) tried to tack his version of the Fed audit bill onto a legislative appropriations bill already chock-full of legislation dealing with the authority or funding of the Government Accountability Office. DeMint's bill would have struck legal restrictions preventing the GAO from auditing the Fed and required the office to report a comprehensive audit to Congress by the end of next year.
"Allowing the Fed to operate our nation's monetary system in almost complete secrecy leads to abuse, inflation and lower quality of life for every American," DeMint alleged. "Americans across the nation, regardless of their position on the bailout, want to know where the money has gone, exactly how much has been spent, and what collateral has been taken in return."
Nelson blocked the amendment from consideration under Senate rule 16, which bars policy legislation from appropriations bills. Anticipating the move, DeMint then pointed out a series of policy provisions affecting the GAO's existing audits of the National Transportation Safety Board, local educational spending and small-business participation in the Alaska national pipeline, as well as a Nebraskan earmark. He confirmed with presiding officer Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) that those provisions also violated rule 16 but had not been struck.
"The majority claims that we do not legislate on appropriations bills," DeMint said, chuckling. "Of course, that is false." It didn't help his amendment, though.
Nelson told the Huffington Post Wednesday evening that he blocked the amendment, unprompted by Democratic leadership, on the basis that it had not been duly considered by the Senate. The other GAO provisions made the cut, he said, because they've had time to be debated on the floor.
"I'm not opposed to audits, but I am opposed to having legislation come up this way," Nelson said,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/08/nelson-blocks-fed-a...
