Will Rand Paul Take up the Federal Reserve Fight in the Senate?

Over the last few months, there has been a growing movement to bring transparency and new levels of accountability to the US Federal Reserve. Congressman Ron Paul has been leading the fight in the House of Representatives. There’s no champion fighting in the US Senate to bring accountability to the Federal Reserve, but that might change if one Kentucky senatorial candidate gets elected.

Currently in the U.S. Senate, there’s a piece of legislation similar to Ron Paul’s H.R. 1207 which would bring new levels of accountability to the Federal Reserve by allowing the GAO to audit the Fed. The legislation, S.604: The Federal Reserve Sunshine Act of 2009, introduced by Bernie Sanders of Vermont, currently has 23 cosponsors. Unfortunately, the legislation is currently sitting in committee and hasn’t gained much momentum.

This could all change if Randal (Rand) Paul an American eye-surgeon, political activist and son of Ron Paul, gets elected in his bid for one of Kentucky’s two slots for the senate. After embattled Republican Senator Jim Bunning announced he would not be running for re-election, Rand Paul threw his name into the ring and has raised $815,000 for his campaign. His competitor in the Republican primary is Charles “Trey” Grayson, who is currently Kentucky’s Secretary of State.

Rand Paul has long been a critic of the U.S. Federal Reserve and has vowed to “shed light on this secretive organization” if he gets elected. Rand Paul is a supporter of H.R. 1207 and S.604 and says that these two piece of legislation will “make it possible to audit an institution that has created trillions of new dollars in the past few months.” Paul also stated, “The American people have a right to know to whom this money was given. For all its talk of transparency the current administration has done nothing to tear the shroud off of the Fed.”

A statement on Rand Paul’s campaign website said this, “For too long the Federal Reserve has operated behind a shroud of mystery—as Senator I would make sure that all Americans understand the dangers of unsound monetary policy and shed light on this secretive organization.”

Will Rand Paul be the champion for Federal Reserve accountability if he’s elected in 2010? It’s very likely, but first Rand Paul will have to get through a tough primary. Fortunately for Paul, Kentucky is solidly Republican and will have a major advantage over the determined Democratic candidate.