Posts Tagged → Richard Shelby
Alabama’s Republican Congressmen Support the Audit the Fed Bill
(Birmingham, AL) The Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009 (HR 1207) was introduced by Texas Congressman and former Republican Liberty Caucus Honorary Chairman Dr. Ron Paul on February 26, 2009. The bill currently enjoys 200 cosponsors. It “directs the Comptroller General to complete, before the end of 2010, an audit of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and of the federal reserve banks, followed by a detailed report to Congress.”
This morning, the Alabama Republican Liberty Caucus, working in concert with other online activists, used Twitter to promote a campaign to call Representative Jo Bonner to urge his support of HR 1207. A couple of hours after the campaign was launched, we received word that Bonnor was now cosponsoring the bill.
“We’d like to thank Jo Bonnor for adding his name to the list,” said ALRLC Secretary and Alabama Republican Assembly President Shana Kluck. “Currently, all of Alabama’s Republican representatives have put their names on the bill. Unfortunately, it seems that Alabama’s Democratic delegation to Congress isn’t as interested in transparency and open government.”
Activists have been trying to contact Alabama Democrats to urge their support of the legislation. By our count, fifty Democrats currently cosponsor the bill, but none from Alabama. One activist received a written response from Representative Bobby Bright.
“Currently, H.R. 1207 is before the House Committee on Financial Services.” responded Bright. “Please be assured I will monitor this legislation and keep your views in mind if it comes to the House floor for a vote.”
Noting that Bright had failed to directly answer the request, “Will you, or will you not, cosponsor HR1207?” was the response on the ALRLC’s blog.
The Federal Reserve Sunshine Act of 2009 (S 604) is the Senate companion legislation and it has been referred to the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, where Alabama Senator Richard Shelby serves as the ranking member. Shelby has already supported an amendment which provides limited oversight of the Federal Reserve regarding Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) spending.
“Federal Reserve policy impacts every citizen of the United States on a daily basis,” said ALRLC Media Director Stephen Gordon. “Unfortunately, the Fed doesn’t receive the level of scrutiny we expect and deserve. It’s imperative that we learn more about how the Federal Reserve operates. Hopefully, the rest of Alabama’s congressional delegation will side with us regarding openness and transparency.”
The Alabama Republican Liberty Caucus is committed to advancing the cause of liberty by advancing pro-freedom legislation and electing pro-freedom candidates to public office. Additional information about the ALRLC may be found at www.ALRLC.org.
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Senator Shelby caught in the act
The Senate version of The Federal Reserve Transparency Act (HR1207) is being watered down. Not by Democrats, but by two ranking Republicans. One of them is from Alabama. The Huffington Post reports:
Thanks to an overlooked document posted on the website of Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the top ranking Republican on the Finance Committee, voters can virtually watch the water being dumped into the brew that Grassley had hoped to force the Fed to drink. (See the document at the bottom of this story.)
On page five of Grassley’s amendment, he intends to give the Comptroller General of the Government Accountability Office power to audit “any action taken by the Board under…the third undesignated paragraph of section 13 of the Federal Reserve Act” — which would be almost everything that it has done on an emergency basis to address the financial crisis, encompassing its massive expansion of opaque buying and lending.
Handwritten into the margins, however, is the amendment that watered it down: “with respect to a single and specific partnership or corporation.” With that qualification, the Senate severely limited the scope of the oversight.
On the Senate floor, Grassley named the top Republican on the banking committee, Richard Shelby of Alabama, as the man pouring the water.
“Although I would have preferred to include all of the Fed’s emergency actions under 13(3), in consultation with Senator Shelby I agreed to limit my amendment to actions aimed at specific companies,” said Grassley.
The Federal Reserve has a considerable amount of influence over our fiscal status, but there is no tranparency of their actions. It’s so vital that a full audit be conducted that 186 House members have co-sponsored the bill already.
Please contact Senator Shelby and Senator Grassley and let them know we demand a full audit of the Federal Reserve.
Senator Grassley
(202) 224-3744
E-mail
Senator Shelby
(202) 224-5744
E-mail
ALRLC is looking for a few good conservatives
The Club for Growth has just released their 2008 congressional ratings. While Alabama’s Senators scored in a marginally acceptable manner, our Representatives had embarrassing results. Steve Gordon makes the following observation:
The Club for Growth has posted both their House and Senate ratings online. They also note that the “moderate” (or squishy, as I prefer) lawmakers “are not supportive of economic liberty.”
“So when you hear someone praise a lawmaker for being a ‘centrist’ or a ‘moderate’, think twice before assigning them any real merit on economic issues,” writes Andrew Roth at the Club for Growth blog.
In one recent test of how people currently feel about squishy Republicans, Rasmussen is reporting that Pat Toomey currently outpolls Senator Arlen Specter by 21 points in the much more liberal state of Pennsylvania. “If these numbers are right, Specter has a tough road to renomination ahead of him,” noted James Antle at the American Spectator.
In neighboring Florida, Governor Crist could be facing similar problems. “There may be a Tea Party conservative rebellion brewing against ‘me too’ Republicans like Crist,” notes journalist Robert Stacy McCain on his personal blog.
If the current Tea Party hostility regarding taxation and deficit spending continues, each Republican member of Alabama’s House delegation will be very susceptible to a primary challenge — especially Everett and Rogers. Additionally, the nine percent scored by Artur Davis may make it very difficult for him to pick up enough independent votes to satisfy his gubernatorial ambitions.
The Alabama Republican Liberty Caucus is looking for candidates to run against any of the “squishy” Republicans in Alabama. If you are interested in running for public office, please contact Shana at shanajk@gmail.com.
