"Why hasn't Ron Paul audited the Fed"

[GeorgiaAvenger]

http://www.facebook.com/draftcain.org

[Steven Douglas]

Some Ron Paul detractors are trying to make hay out of the fact that he has serves as the subcommittee chairman that has direct oversight of the Fed, but has not actually audited the Fed.

As I have stated elsewhere, "oversight" does not mean absolute power. It means power to investigate and ensure that whatever laws have been enacted are being followed. Whatever Ron Paul asks or does with the Fed, he must be able to point to legislation that AUTHORIZES him to do so, and that includes any so-called "audit". There IS NO law in effect that authorizes anyone to perform a full and comprehensive internal audit on the Fed.

HR 459 - the actual bill introduced by Ron Paul that was referred to House committee in late January of this year (where it still sits) is the ONLY authority that Ron Paul would have, in his position as subcommittee chairman, to perform a full and comprehensive audit on the Fed - IF that bill finally made it out of committee, was passed by both houses, and signed into law. And what a big, jokingly sick IF that is. Without that bill making it into law, Ron Paul, even with his so-called "oversight" position, is virtually powerless to audit the Fed.

Some see Ron Paul's power to subpoena as the same thing as the authority to perform an audit. If that was true (and it is most certainly not), an audit would have been performed long ago. However, the power of subpoena is NOT equivalent to the authority to go on a massive fishing expedition, like performing a major audit under color of law using the subpoena powers. The Fed knows this, and can resist (and HAS) ALL subpoenas and other inquests, that try this.

[specsaregood]

Some see Ron Paul's power to subpoena as the same thing as the authority to perform an audit. If that was true (and it is most certainly not), an audit would have been performed long ago. However, the power of subpoena is NOT equivalent to the authority to go on a massive fishing expedition, like performing a major audit under color of law using the subpoena powers. The Fed knows this, and can resist (and HAS) ALL subpoenas and other inquests, that try this.

Also any subpoena by him would have to be approved the committee chair (bachus) AND the house leader (boehner).

[Steven Douglas]

Also any subpoena by him would have to be approved the committee chair (bachus) AND the house leader (boehner).

That is true, but even if approved by both, the lack of an actual law requiring, let alone allowing, an audit means that every subpoena (each of which must be accompanied by a specific reason for its issuance) could be challenged, resisted, and dismissed piecemeal on any number of legal grounds.

Even if HR 459 passed, by some miracle, an actual audit will not have been Ron Paul's first rodeo runaround with the Fed - and even with the power to audit in place, I would not expect the runaround to stop there.