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Dems Defend the Fed, America's Big Government Enabler

By Matthew Vadum on 7.10.09 @ 2:50PM

Why are Democratic lawmakers so eager to shield the Federal Reserve Board from public scrutiny?

After Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Nebraska) used a procedural trick in the U.S. Senate to torpedo a longshot legislative bid that would have had the Government Accountability Office (GAO) audit the Fed, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) expressed his disappointment on the "Glenn Beck Program":

Frankly, a lot of us here in this country and around the world, are concerned that we're going to destroy the American dollar and the worldwide reserve currency.

DeMint told substitute host Judge Andrew Napolitano that

If we could get the Federal Reserve under control, it would make it more difficult for the Obama administration, I think, to carry out the continued spending and growing of debt.

Fed deputy chairman Donald Kohn is opposed to the idea. He told a congressional hearing that auditing the primary institutional enabler of Big Government in America would interfere with Fed processes.

If the GAO, a congressional agency, were authorized to audit the Fed, that "could cast a chill on monetary policy deliberations," Kohn said.

Or Americans could find out where their tax dollars are going from an unaccountable, opaque entity that refuses to identify the recipients of $2 trillion-plus in emergency loans from U.S. taxpayers and the collateral backing the loans.

Making the Fed more transparent could also put to rest some of the kookier conspiracy theories about it.