Ron Paul Statement On Yellen Hearing

SPRINGFIELD, Virginia- Campaign for Liberty Chairman Ron Paul issued the following statement today regarding Janet Yellen’s first appearance before the House Committee on Financial Services. Dr. Paul served on the Financial Services Committee during his tenure in Congress, including serving as Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy from 2007-2011 and as Chairman of the Domestic Monetary Policy Subcommittee from 2011-2013.

“Janet Yellen’s testimony confirmed suspicions that she would offer more of the same failed inflationary policies. If I were still in Congress and a member of the Financial Services Committee, I would have asked Chairman Yellen the following questions:

“Why should Main Street, as opposed to Wall Street, have any confidence in the Fed considering that last Friday’s jobs report provides more evidence of the failures of Quantitative Easing 1, 2, 3, etc…. to help the average American?

“Why should anyone give credibility to the statements that the Federal Reserve will continue tapering when both Dr. Yellen and her predecessor have made it clear by their words and actions that the Fed will not end easy money policies as long as the stock market and the banks are addicted to the morphine of Quantitative Easing?

“Where does the Fed get the moral authority to create money out of thin air, something many equate with counterfeiting, and to fix interest rates?

“How can a Chair of the Fed assume to have the wisdom to know what the money supply and the cost of borrowing (the rate of interest) should be?

“Is it possible to justify this authority to control one half of every economic transaction in a free market, especially when one looks at the results: depressions, recessions, excessive debt, inflation, bubbles, and the destruction of the middle class?

“I might also suggest that Dr. Yellen should not expect to have a pleasant tenure, as the policies she and her predecessors pursued will likely lead to a financial crisis that could very well dwarf the meltdown of 2008.”

Passing Audit the Fed remains Campaign for Liberty’s top legislative priority.

Ron Paul’s Audit the Fed bill, H.R. 459, gained 274 cosponsors and passed the House of Representatives in the 112th Congress on July 25, 2012, by an overwhelming three-fourths majority of 327-98 after a nationwide grassroots mobilization effort led by Campaign for Liberty. The legislation calls for a “full audit of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Reserve banks by the Comptroller General of the United States.”

Last Congress, Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky) introduced companion legislation, S.202, which gained 37 cosponsors. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid refused to allow ‘Audit the Fed’ to be brought to the floor for a vote despite repeatedly calling for an audit of the Federal Reserve throughout his career.

Congressman Paul Broun (R-Ga) reintroduced Dr. Paul’s Audit the Fed bill in January 2013 as H.R 24, “The Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2013,” in the 113th Congress. The bill currently has 181 cosponsors. Senator Rand Paul has again introduced companion legislation, S. 209, which currently has 29 cosponsors.

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