content taken from: http://greenmountaindaily.com/diary/4430/peter-welch-and-hr1207-playing-cat-and-mouse
Some background: In August of 2007 I was trying to understand what I
saw as some troubling signs in the economy and my grandmother gave me a
book. I began The Creature From Jekyll Island by Ed Griffin and
I realized that there was something fundamentally wrong with our
monetary policy and this book, placed in my hands by one of the most
progressive, thoughtful and intelligent people I know, proved my
inkling. When I was about halfway through the book I saw a
hand-stenciled sign that said "Ron Paul '08" in New Hampshire. I knew I
had heard that name before and when I looked at the back of the book I
saw a quote from Paul. I googled him and have been a die-hard supporter
ever since. Since then I've been paying attention to the Federal Reserve and I
am convinced that this institution is unconstitutional and a threat to
all American people. They have the power to expand and contract the
money supply as they see fit, in effect taxing us via inflation. The
president wants war with no way to pay for it? "Print" more money. The
Treasury wants Congress to bail out banks? No problem, print more
money. Borrow money from the Fed, pay interest on that money and it's
full steam ahead.
I've been harping on the issue with various radio hosts,
lawmakers, friends and family. If you're not familiar with the Federal
Reserve you may pick up some tidbits in the exchange to follow. I'm not
an expert by any means but I'll do my best to answer questions if
anyone has one (or two or five). I've posted much of this information
in other places which are frequented by folks who are already familiar
with HR1207 but the text of the bill is in the 3rd quote below.
On April 24 I called Peter Welch's office about HR1207. I told
the aide that I planned to call every single day until Welch signed on
to the bill or he explained why he would not. On Monday I called again,
asking for a timely response. Later that afternoon I got one of these:
Dear Ms. Bernier.
Thank you for contacting me about H.R. 1207, the Federal Reserve
Transparency Act of 2009. I appreciate hearing from you on this issue.
Introduced by Rep. Ron Paul, H.R. 1207 would eliminate
restrictions on General Accounting Office (GAO) audits of the Federal
Reserve to open up the Federal Reserve operations to enhanced scrutiny.
H.R. 1207 was referred to the House Committee on Financial Services. I
will be sure to keep your thoughts in mind the next opportunity
Congress has to address this issue. Please continue to be in touch and
I hope to see you in Vermont soon.
Sincerely,
PETER WELCH
To which I replied:
Dear Mr. Welch,
Thank you for your timely response to my inquiry about your
position on HR 1207. Unfortunately you gave no indication of whether or
not you intend to co-sponsor this bill which was my primary concern in
contacting you.
It is apparent to me that the Federal Reserve needs to have
some sort of oversight. HR 1207 puts in place an audit of the Fed. This
is essential for transparency. At a time when Congress is approving
hundreds of billions of dollars to shore up the financial sector the
taxpayers deserve to the assurance that the Federal Reserve is acting
in their best interest.
I find it interesting that you sit on the Government
Operations and Reform Committee, yet you are silent on this issue. I am
sure that you know all about Reps. Kucinich and Towns' call for an
expanded investigation into the Fed's role in the Bank of America
acquisition of Merrill Lynch. It is clear to many that the Federal
Reserve in cooperation with the Treasury and with the consent of
Congress has exhibited behavior which is suspicious and potentially
criminal.
I'm also sure that you are aware of the two bills senator
Sanders has introduced in the Senate which seek the same ends. If you
are in doubt about whether this type of legislation is necessary I
suggest contacting him.
I urge you to take a position-- the side of the people of
Vermont and the US-- on this issue and support HR 1207. This is a
non-partisan issue. It is a straightforward bill which seeks to do one
thing--audit the Federal Reserve.
Most businesses and government institutions are audited at
some point in their operation. After 96 years, I feel it's about time
for the Federal Reserve to open its books.
Please co-sponsor HR 1207, which now has 91 other co-sponsors.
Sincerely,
On April 28 (an official Campaign For Liberty action day) I made a
last minute decision to pack up my 2yo and head for Burlington with
some petitions. I only had a little over an hour to gather signatures
but out of the 41 people I spoke with 35 signed. I headed over to
Welch's office and dropped them off.
Yesterday I called Welch's office again and I was informed by a
staffer that there are thousands of bills that the congress must look
at and that Peter Welch didn't have the time to consider this one which
is "stuck in committee". I explained to the young lady that the bill
had gained over 30 co-sponsors in the last week and was gaining
momentum. HR1207 now has 109 co-sponsors.
I again pointed out his committee position should give him
additional insight as to the importance of the legislation. I again
mentioned that his colleague in the Senate, Bernie Sanders had
sponsored similar legislation there. She politely informed me, again,
that he was basically too busy to know about all the bills in Congress.
So I asked her how Peter Welch justified co-sponsoring legislation that
would honor the town of Pittsfield, MA for coining the term "baseball".
Today when I called I asked if he had co-sponsored the bill
yet. I was told he did not. So I made sure to ask her how co-sponsoring
"legislation" to honor Arnold Palmer with a gold medal for exhibiting
sportsmanship in the game of golf was more beneficial to the American
people than co-sponsoring a bill that would provide transparency over
the Federal Reserve.
I talked to Peter Welch's policy guy Monday and we had an
interesting conversation. He said that Monday was the first time that
he looked at the bill and he pointed out something that I hadn't seen
and which he feels may be an issue.
The text of the bill states:
(a) In General- Subsection (b) of section 714 of title 31, United
States Code, is amended by striking all after 'shall audit an agency'
and inserting a period.
(b) Audit- Section 714 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
'(e) Audit and Report of the Federal Reserve System-
'(1) IN GENERAL- The audit of the Board of Governors of the
Federal Reserve System and the Federal reserve banks under subsection
(b) shall be completed before the end of 2010.
'(2) REPORT-
'(A) REQUIRED- A report on the audit referred to in
paragraph (1) shall be submitted by the Comptroller General to the
Congress before the end of the 90-day period beginning on the date on
which such audit is completed and made available to the Speaker of the
House, the majority and minority leaders of the House of
Representatives, the majority and minority leaders of the Senate, the
Chairman and Ranking Member of the committee and each subcommittee of
jurisdiction in the House of Representatives and the Senate, and any
other Member of Congress who requests it.
'(B) CONTENTS- The report under subparagraph (A) shall
include a detailed description of the findings and conclusion of the
Comptroller General with respect to the audit that is the subject of
the report, together with such recommendations for legislative or
administrative action as the Comptroller General may determine to be
appropriate.'.
US code title 31 section 14 states:
§ 714. Audit of Financial Institutions Examination Council,
Federal Reserve Board, Federal reserve banks, Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation, and Office of Comptroller of the Currency
(a) In this section, "agency" means the Financial
Institutions Examination Council, the Federal Reserve Board, Federal
reserve banks, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of
the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Office of Thrift Supervision.
(b) Under regulations of the Comptroller General, the
Comptroller General shall audit an agency, but may carry out an onsite
examination of an open insured bank or bank holding company only if the
appropriate agency has consented in writing. Audits of the Federal
Reserve Board and Federal reserve banks may not include-
(1) transactions for or with a foreign central bank,
government of a foreign country, or nonprivate international financing
organization;
(2) deliberations, decisions, or actions on monetary policy
matters, including discount window operations, reserves of member
banks, securities credit, interest on deposits, and open market
operations;
(3) transactions made under the direction of the Federal Open Market Committee; or
(4) a part of a discussion or communication among or between
members of the Board of Governors and officers and employees of the
Federal Reserve System related to clauses (1)-(3) of this subsection.
(c)
(1) Except as provided in this subsection, an officer or
employee of the Government Accountability Office may not disclose
information identifying an open bank, an open bank holding company, or
a customer of an open or closed bank or bank holding company. The
Comptroller General may disclose information related to the affairs of
a closed bank or closed bank holding company identifying a customer of
the closed bank or closed bank holding company only if the Comptroller
General believes the customer had a controlling influence in the
management of the closed bank or closed bank holding company or was
related to or affiliated with a person or group having a controlling
influence.
(2) An officer or employee of the Office may discuss a
customer, bank, or bank holding company with an official of an agency
and may report an apparent criminal violation to an appropriate law
enforcement authority of the United States Government or a State.
(3) This subsection does not authorize an officer or employee
of an agency to withhold information from a committee of Congress
authorized to have the information.
(d)
(1) To carry out this section, all records and property of or
used by an agency, including samples of reports of examinations of a
bank or bank holding company the Comptroller General considers
statistically meaningful and workpapers and correspondence related to
the reports shall be made available to the Comptroller General. The
Comptroller General shall give an agency a current list of officers and
employees to whom, with proper identification, records and property may
be made available, and who may make notes or copies necessary to carry
out an audit.
(2) The Comptroller General shall prevent unauthorized access
to records or property of or used by an agency that the Comptroller
General obtains during an audit.
The policy guy is concerned that the power of the Comptroller
General to audit or carry out an onsite investigation of any other
banking institution would be limited, if not nullified by the new
wording.
He also informed me that no matter how much steam this thing
picks up the reality of the situation in Washington is that it will
never make it out of committee. I told him that whether it makes it out
or not if he and the congressman are satisfied (after researching the
issue he brought up) that this bill would indeed support more
transparency of the Federal Reserve and just who and where our money is
going to I want him to co-sponsor it.
So I sent him this email:
Hi Calvin,
So I looked at the text of the code that HR1207 would change if
it was adopted. There is no doubt in my mind that this bill would give
more authority to the Comptroller by removing the "in writing"
qualification from open insured banks and bank holding companies. An
amendment could always be proposed to further clarify that those
institutions be included in the definition of "agency" if the
Congressman is still uncomfortable with it.
Despite your knowledge of Washington culture I feel that
this bill is vitally important for transparency in government. The very
fact that we have a supranational agency controlling money creation and
distribution should be enough for all congressmen and women to
recognize the necessity of an audit. This is not about Ron Paul or his
desire to end the Federal Reserve. This is about the people knowing
what is happening to their money.
As I mentioned before, HR 1207 now has 112 co-sponsors.
Almost one-fourth of members of Congress agree that this is a very
important piece of legislation. Last week senator Dick Durbin made a
statement alleging that Congress is owned by banks. One could deduce
that those 112 people who put their names to this bill are not owned by
the banks. I would like to see Peter Welch's name on this list as well.
There is plenty of legislation that is neither here nor
there to the American people. Arnold Palmer's gold medal last week is
just one of the many trivial bills that Peter Welch has put his name
on. In the grand scheme of things that legislation and medal will be
long forgotten by all but the recipient and his heirs. In contrast
HR1207 will have lasting and profound implications which will prove to
the people of this nation one of two things: a) the Federal Reserve has
been carrying out its duties faithfully and honorably on behalf of the
American people or b) we've been had.
We deserve to know which it is.
As of this morning I haven't heard back from him. The bill is now up to
129 co-sponsors. Will you folks help put some pressure on Peter Welch?
His DC office number is 202-225-4115.UPDATE 1:
I spoke with Mr. Garner again on Wednesday, May 6. and he informed
me that he had further research to do on the bill before he could
present a recommendation to Peter Welch. He told me he didn't have
time to deal with it right away and when he was able he would get to
it. He also told me that my requests would be dealt with in the order
it came in and that I would hear back in writing when the Congressman
had an answer for me. I explained to him that I have been calling about
this since April 24, that I asked for a timely reply and was sent a
generic email telling me what HR1207 was about. I informed him that I
did not consider that a valid reply to my inquiry as my concerns were
not addressed and I expected that my request for a reply be entered as
April 24.
Garner reiterated that he was concerned that HR1207 would
reduce the authority of the Comptroller General's office. I
respectfully disagreed and ended the conversation. Directly after this
conversation I decided to find out whether or not his argument had any
validity and called the General Accounting Office. I was put through to
a lawyer who took the time to look up both HR1207 and the Code it would
affect. He absolutely disagreed with Garner's assertions, stating that
the bill would provide a "significant expansion of the Comptroller's
authority in auditing monetary policy." HR1207 "doesn't restrict at all
but gives more work" to the GAO.
The lawyer and I had a really good conversation. He explained
to me that Section 714 exists solely to provide protection of the
Federal Reserves international dealings from scrutiny by the GAO. He
was also quite surprised to learn that the majority of co-sponsors of
HR1207 are Republicans. The count as of Friday morning is 147
co-sponsors, 18 of which are Democrats.
Please join me in urging Peter Welch to co-sponsor this
legislation. We deserve to know who's benefiting from Federal Reserve
monetary policy and where that money is going. The phone number for
Peter Welch's Washington DC office is (202) 225-4115.
Update 2: He is now a co-sponsor