Submitted by an SOTN contributor

On November 1, Sen. Rand Paul’s (SC) amendment  ‘Audit the Fed’  to the Federal Reserve Transparency Act would have required a full audit of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal reserve banks to be conducted by the Comptroller General of the United States.  The Amendment failed   51 – 46 with 3 Republicans Not Voting.   While the Fed Bank is not a public bank and yet has extensive control over the US economy, they generally operate in secret.   

Created in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis,  Dodd-Frank included a one-time audit of the Fed Bank with the GAO reporting that $ 16 Trillion had been ‘loaned’  to domestic and international banks during the crisis with  JP Morgan, GoldmanSachs and Nomura receiving $8 Trillion.    

Voting against Paul’s amendment were Sens. Romney (Utah), Rounds (ND) and Ricketts (Neb.) as well as all Democrats.  Sens. Ricketts and twenty two Democrats (Independents) are up for re-election in 2024.