Jason Chaffetz Shocks Democrats: ‘We Are Going To Audit The Fed’

Jason Chaffetz has done “the impossible” and pushed a bill through Congress ordering an audit of the Federal Reserve.

The bill will allow for a Congressional audit of the Federal Reserve’s secretive monetary policy, and was opposed by Fed policymakers and Democrats. However it does have President Donald Trump’s approval.

Under the bill, the Fed’s monetary policy deliberations could be subject to outside review by the Government Accountability Office – an unthinkable situation for the Fed’s policymakers, who are used to operating with total impunity, a law unto themselves.

Congress was ordered by President Trump to show more transparency and oversight and the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is doing just that. Trey Gowdy is handling the intelligence oversight while Jason Chaffetz is handling the transparency oversight.

Both are infamous for the dealings they had with Hillary Clinton and her private email scandal. Unlike the vast majority of our Representatives, when these two guard dogs bite they don’t let go.

“I applaud this bill, I have been a supporter of this bill for several years now,” Jason Chaffetz said, before stating that it is “irresponsible” not to audit the Federal Reserve.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t9PAeXMmQI&feature=youtu.be

Zero Hedge report: While similar bills have garnered some support from Democrats in the past, they uniformly spoke against the current proposal during a meeting of the House of Representatives suggesting the current iteration would face stronger resistance from an increasingly polarized environment in Washington D.C..

The House previously passed similar versions of this legislation twice before in 2012 and 2014, with dozens of Democrats joining nearly unanimous Republican support.  That said, those bills both died in the Senate and likely would have faced a Presidential veto from Obama had they survived anyway.

That said, Trump expressed interest in passing such legislation multiple times during the 2016 campaign cycle which means the 3rd time might just be the charm for Republicans.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/701868541545295872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fnews%2F2017-03-28%2Fhouse-committee-passes-bill-audit-fed

President-elect @realDonaldTrump has stated his support for #AuditTheFed. Let’s send him the bill this Congress. https://t.co/1twVBMv37u

— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) January 4, 2017

And while proponents of the bill argue that the Fed wields too much power over the U.S. economy with minimal oversight, opponents assert that Fed decisions should be informed purely by economic indicators and completely insulated from “political pressure”…and we presume those same opponents would argue that Yellen’s decision to wait until just after the conclusion of the 2016 Presidential election to start hiking rates had absolutely nothing to do with politics.

Per Reuters:

Proponents of the measure argue that the Fed is too powerful and lacks sufficient oversight for its interest rate decisions. But Fed officials from Yellen on down, as well as other critics, have warned that such a policy could subject the Fed to undue political pressure and discourage it from taking unpopular steps for the good of the overall economy.

“We should not in any way hinder their independence,” said Representative Carolyn Maloney, a New York Democrat, echoing the sentiment of Fed policymakers who say they could come under political pressure to avoid making unpopular decisions such as raising interest rates to slow growth and control inflation.

The next step for the bill would be a floor vote by the entire House, where Republicans hold a solid majority, followed by a vote in the Senate, where Republicans hold a narrower majority.