A House majority is expected to pass Ron Paul's Audit the Fed bill. Ron Paul's swan song

It’s not exactly the Ron Paul revolution in full.

But on Wednesday afternoon, a small piece of his grand vision hit prime time, and the House overwhelmingly approved his Audit the Fed billby a vote of 327-98. To understand how remarkable this moment is — coming near the end of Paul’s congressional career — consider this: When Paul first introduced his bill a decade ago, it was written off as another piece of his far-flung libertarian worldview. For a long time, Paul was a lawmaker who was largely ignored by Washington — that guy on the losing end of 414-1 votes.


And now his Fed transparency bill has 270 co-sponsors — including the great majority of the Republican lawmakers and a good number of Democrats. It’s a sign that this issue has moved into the mainstream, even if Ron Paul himself has not.

Never mind that the Fed audit is dead in the Senate — Majority Leader Harry Reid’s office has said he won’t bring it up — Paul’s relentless pursuit is backed by an energetic grass-roots movement, and he has made transparency of the Federal Reserve a national issue, not just some quirky back-burner debate.

During a floor debate on the bill, lawmaker after lawmaker gave kudos to Paul for his efforts.

“I want to appreciate and congratulate Dr. Ron Paul for his tireless pursuit of openness and transparency,” said Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah). “Without his leadership, we wouldn’t be at this point today.”

Even presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney tweeted earlier in the week: “Ron Paul’s Audit The Fed bill is a reminder of his tireless efforts to promote sound money and a more transparent Federal Reserve.”

“I’m pleased. It’s something I’ve worked on for a long time, and it’s a good first step,” Paul told POLITICO. “It’s coming to the floor as a response to the American people, because I don’t have a whole lot of clout around here.”

Paul really doesn’t want this bill to be treated as his swan song in Congress, but to some extent this vote represents a coda to an eccentric congressional career. Paul’s movement has always been stronger outside the Capitol than inside it, yet the fact that at least one of his ideas is starting to break through shows that he may still have some clout on the national stage, even if he’s leaving the congressional payroll and ditching his presidential runs.

And even though a return to the gold standard, legalization of drugs and abolishing the Federal Reserve remain pipe dreams, Paul believes the traction on his Audit the Fed bill does validate his grass-roots, populist approach to monetary policy.

“I like to think of it more as verifying that my approach is a little bit different than just becoming a powerful player and having an influence, versus really changing people’s minds,” he said. “Events have also brought it about because these last five years have been so important to the economy. If the crisis hadn’t hit, I don’t think I could have gotten as much attention.

“Government reflects the people, sometimes that happens slowly,” he said. “When the American people get upset, Congress listens.”

The bill was taken up under “suspension” rules, meaning it needed a two-thirds vote. But it still passed easily, with virtually all House Republicans approving the bill, as well as 89 Democrats. Rep. Bob Turner (R-.N.Y.) was the sole Republican to vote against it. The legislation was included in the House version of the Dodd-Frank legislation but was taken out during the conference committee process.

This was the first time Paul’s bill received a stand-alone vote on the floor.

“This bill has overwhelming support because the American people deserve the truth,” said Michael Steel, spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner.

Rep. Peter Welch, a progressive Democrat from Vermont, is one of the co-sponsors of the bill. Welch doesn’t want to see the Federal Reserve abolished — far from it — but he said Paul has always been able to get Democrats on board with some of his ideas because of he’s been a “clear voice of conscience.”

“Those of us who support transparency don’t necessarily agree with the whole Ron Paul agenda,” Welch said. “But everybody in the Congress has enormous affection for him. … a lot of the Democrats agree with him on Iraq and Afghanistan and on transparency, a lot of us agree with him as well. He’s been uncompromising in terms of his ideals, persistent in his advocacy and a gentleman in his interactions.”

Tax activist Grover Norquist gave the bill kudos too, calling the vote “brilliant.”

“Nobody who signs on to transparency is committed to the long march of going to a gold standard,” the Americans for Tax Reform president said. “I think it is brilliant strategically, it bangs on the windows of the Fed and forces them to do whatever cleaning up they can do. It’s very good policy, all government should be transparent.”

Still, many Democrats weren’t convinced.

“There is an audit of the Fed done every year. It’s not what Dr. Paul prefers, but I think the public has been misled in believing there’s no accountability. That’s not accurate,” said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.). “I do think there are times when members will vote for something they don’t normally like as a tribute to members that are departing. Some of that may happen.”

And Minority Whip Steny Hoyer said no matter how many Democrats were co-sponsors, he still thinks the bill is bad policy — and he urged Democrats not to support it.

“Whatever the motivation is, and however broad the sponsorship is, my own view is that it’s bad policy,” Hoyer told reporters on Wednesday. “It will undermine the independence of the Federal Reserve and will, therefore, undermine the competence in the Federal Reserve, which plays a significant role in stabilizing the economy and addressing the creation of jobs.”

Republicans in the House may be lined up to support Paul, but Tony Fratto, who worked in the Treasury Department and in the White House under President George W. Bush, said Paul’s “audit” movement is still pretty out there.

“I really can’t think of an institution in D.C. more open and transparent than the Fed on monetary policy,” Fratto said. “Ron Paul occupies a minority corner of intellectual thought but has none the less found in the Fed an easy target.”

But the audit the Fed movement won’t end with the House vote if Paul’s son, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), has his way. He said he couldn’t be happier for his dad’s efforts and said he hoped to announce Democratic co-sponsors for the bill in the Senate later this week.

“I think people came around to him. I also think over time, people have become more worried about Fed policies,” the younger Paul said. “Many conservatives who won’t go quite as far as my father would like to take them, have begun to question them. We think it’s not that controversial that the people through their representatives deserve to know what the Federal Reserve is doing, and I think if it came up for a vote in the Senate tomorrow, it would pass.”

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