The Missouri House of Representatives passed a resolution on March 12 calling on Congress to audit the Federal Reserve.
The measure, House Concurrent Resolution 9, was sponsored by state Representative Paul Curtman (R-Dist. 105) and passed by a vote of 122-36.
As the primary sponsor of the resolution, Representative Curtman told The New American in an exclusive interview that his motivation for offering his resolution was the inflationary fiscal policies of the Federal Reserve that he believes will eventually “kill the American wage earner.”
Curtman, a former Marine, says he was spurred by former congressman Ron Paul’s efforts on the federal level to pull the curtain away from the Fed’s unchecked manipulation of the nation’s currency. Curtman’s non-binding resolution informs Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke (as well as other members of the federal government) that Missourians are aware of his perfidy and will not sit idly by while their country’s financial strength is sapped by board members of an unelected and unaccountable central bank.
Ron Paul’s campaign to force the Fed to submit to the will of the people and their elected representatives was renowned.
As recounted on RonPaul.com:
For the past 30 years, Congressman Ron Paul has worked tirelessly to bring much-needed transparency and accountability to the secretive bank. And in 2009 and 2010 his unfaltering dedication showed astonishing results: HR 1207, the bill to audit the Federal Reserve, swept the country and made the central bankers shudder at their desks. The bill passed as an amendment both in the House Financial Services Committee and in the House itself.
Then, in 2012, his final year in the House, Congressman Ron Paul reintroduced the Audit the Fed bill (H.R. 459), which passed the House 327-98.
How has the Federal Reserve done so much damage to the economy?
First, the unelected governors of the unconstitutional central bank have an absolute stranglehold and monopoly over the flow of our nation’s money and credit. Not once since its inception in 1913 has there ever been a thorough audit or an accounting to Congress about its activities.
During its century-long reign over the financial well-being of our country, the Federal Reserve has inflated our currency to the point where, compared to 100 years ago, it is nearly worthless. Meanwhile Congress has turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to the crisis and the calls to control it.
Since the Federal Reserve’s inception in 1913, the dollar has lost over 95 percent of its purchasing power. Most, if not all, of this precipitous decline was caused by the mindless monetary policy of the Federal Reserve.
The United States of America has been driven to the very edge of a devastating fiscal cliff by the folly of the Federal Reserve and the abdication of its authority by an impotent Congress. Together, these factors add up to $14 trillion in ill-conceived loans and federal bailouts and a crushing national debt of over $16 trillion.
Adding insult to injury, during testimony to Congress in 2009, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke refused to reveal to committee members the names of the institutions that received trillions of dollars from the Fed. Later, he told our elected representatives that he would not disclose the identity of the foreign banks that were parties to sweetheart deals with the Federal Reserve.
The desire to derail this train of abuses is not partisan. A self-described “constitutional conservative,” Curtman believes his bill benefitted from such broad support because although Federal Reserve policy is rarely thought of as a state issue, everyone in America is effected by the Fed’s decisions.
“The money my constituents carry is printed by the Federal Reserve” and its value is subject to the whim of that body, Curtman explained.
The text of the resolution specifically urges Congress to:
pass the Federal Reserve Transparency Act to require a complete audit of the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States in order to hold the Federal Reserve accountable to the United States Congress and the American people in accordance with Article I, Section VIII of the United States Constitution, which pertains to monetary policy that directly impacts the nation’s immediate economic environment.
Two such bills are currently pending in Congress: the Senate version (S. 209) is sponsored by Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and the companion measure in the House (H.R. 24) was put forward by Representative Paul Broun (R-Ga.).
Senator Paul’s bill would eliminate restrictions on Government Accountability Office (GAO) audits of the Federal Reserve. Additionally, the bill would give Congress oversight of the Fed’s credit facilities, securities purchases, and quantitative easing activities.
“The Fed’s operations under a cloak of secrecy have gone on too long and the American people have a right to know what the Federal Reserve is doing with our nation’s money supply,” Senator Paul said in a statement. “Audit the Fed has significant bipartisan support in Congress and across the country and the time to act on this is now.”
Representative Broun’s bill currently pending in the House is a copy of Ron Paul’s bill. In a statement, Broun said he was fighting the Fed in order to “pick up where Ron Paul left off.”
Representative Curtman and a majority of his colleagues in the state House are doing the same in the Show Me State.
As a non-binding resolution, Curtman’s call to audit the Fed doesn’t need to the governor’s signature. The measure will now go to the state Senate for its consideration.
Readers living in Missouri are encouraged to contact their state senators and encourage them to vote in favor of HCR 9 and let Ben Bernanke, President Obama, and Congress know that citizens refuse to be kept in the dark about the fiscal decisions that are driving this Republic headlong into the brick wall of bankruptcy.
Photo of House of Representatives Chamber at the Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City, Missouri
Joe A. Wolverton, II, J.D. is a correspondent for The New American and travels frequently nationwide speaking on topics of nullification, the NDAA, and the surveillance state. He can be reached at [email protected].
