Ron Paul (R-TX) House Floor Speech: The Transparency of Earmarks

Representative Ron Paul (R-TX) takes to the House floor to speak about the the transparency of earmarks as a necessary oversight function of Congress. As an alternative, he illustrates the true problem with funds which are restricted from earmarking such as those created and expended by the FEDERAL RESERVE, i.e. the T.A.R.P. bailout money. As such, regardless of multiple Freedom of Information Act filings and law suits, the recipients of the taxpayer bailout money have yet to be fully revealed. Finally, Dr. Paul urges his colleagues to support House Resolution 1207 -The Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009¹ which would mandate all expenditures from the FEDERAL RESERVE be specifically earmarked in order to reverse this veil of central banker secrecy.

Shortly after his speech, Dr. Paul is interviewed by Neil Cavuto of the Fox News Channel. Mr. Cavuto does his best attempt at “old media” gotcha journalism by completely ignoring the closed book protections under law given to the FEDERAL RESERVE and instead using the “soundbite” political campaign stump speech definition of “earmark” to paint Dr. Paul as pro-pork.

Source(s): ¹United States Government Printing Office, H.R. 1207 The Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009(PDF)