The Contra Costa Republican Party (CCRP) urges and challenges its counterpart, the Contra Costa Democratic Party, to endorse HR 1207, The Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009 and appeal to the Representatives for Contra Costa—George Miller (CD-7), Ellen Tauscher (CD-10), and Jerry McNerney (CD-11)—to co-sponsor the bill.
HR 1207 requires the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to perform the first Congressional audit of the Fed by the end of 2010. Such an audit will reveal details of agreements made by the Fed with foreign central banks and governments and show which banks and Wall Street firms have received bailout monies. Introduced by Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, the bill is co-sponsored by 146 of the 178 House Republicans and 33 of the 256 House Democrats. Grassroots activism has driven cosponsorship, yet the bill languishes in the House Committee on Financial Services.
Recent information indicates much bigger problems with the Fed than previously believed. The Fed’s recent H.4.1 statistical release claims more than a doubling of its balance sheet ‘assets’ from $930M to $2.18T in the past 52 weeks.
http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h41/Current/
However, Bloomberg Press, estimates off-balance sheet transactions of the Fed between $9T – $13T in the past eight months. The Fed has refused Bloomberg’s FOIA requests and ducks questions by the Senate and House banking committees. The Fed’s Inspector General has performed no audit, no review, nor has any knowledge of sizes of loans nor identities of recipients or magnitude of losses on loans extended by the Fed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJqM2tFOxLQ&feature=channel
This credit extended unilaterally by the Fed ultimately gets monetized. This amount is roughly equal to nominal US annual GDP. Or $30,000 new debt per every man, woman and child in America.
Rep. Lynn Woolsey (CD-6) and Pete Stark (CD-13) are the only Bay Area representatives to have co-sponsored HR 1207.
At a recent Town Hall held in Solano County, Rep. George Miller (CD-7), misleadingly claimed to a group of constituents during a May town hall meeting that he already was a co-author [sic], then in a seemingly self-contradictory statement pledged that he would sponsor the bill. Miller, a self-described proponent of ‘transparency,’ does not appear on the House Clerk’s official list of sponsors for HR 1207. The town hall meeting was videotaped and posted to YouTube:
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HR 1207 update—Yesterday, June 11, 2009, HR 1207 crossed the critical number of 218 cosponsors, with Dennis Kucinich as the decisive individual. Several other Representatives also signed on, bringing the total to 222. Jackie Speier was the only other Bay Area rep to sign on.
The lying George Miller remains MIA. (As do Ellen Tauscher and Jerry McNerney). Potential candidates opposing these clowns, take note!
We are now virtually assured of HR 1207 being brought to the House floor for debate and a vote. We need 290 representatives in the House to veto-proof this bill.
We have a different struggle in the U.S. Senate. The companion bill is S 604—Boxer & Feinstein need to become co-sponsors. The Federal Reserve has for the first time ever hired a lobbyist (Enron’s former lobbyist) to derail the bill. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Indiana) introduced an amendment that would effectively gut the power of the audit.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/08/handwritten-notes-show-fe_n_200515.html
We’ve crossed the first of several finish lines. Please pass this news along to your friends and colleagues.
Great idea Ted! Getting the Contra Costa Democrat Central Committee to take a position on H.R.1207 may encourage Tauscher, Miller and McNerney to sign on. Hats off to those Democrats who have already signed on as co-sponsors of the bill, including our own Pete Stark and Lynn Woolsey. I’ve called them and thanked them for taking a stand for accountability and transparency in government.
There is really no excuse for Tauscher, Miller and McNerney to drag their feet on H.R.1207. The entire bill is only 1-page! And we all know that our representatives can read 1,000 page Stimulus bills in a couple of hours to cast their all important votes when they feel it necessary to do so.
Call your Congressional Rep and urge them to co-sponsor H.R.1207 at 202-224-3121.
I laughed so hard when George Miller proudly declared he was a co-author of 1207 that my diet coke came out my nose. What a tool.
Tauscher’s even worse—she has big money bank lobbyists working out of her office!
Tauscher should of been fired instead of promoted to State. But Barry is the leader of the Money Party. Just look at who he has appointed.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-hamsher/mortgage-write-downs-why_b_170773.html
It’s a shame the CoCo Dems turn a deaf ear when confronted with the truth about those two.