Fed Audit Loses Hirono’s Support
The Hawaii senator initially supported Rand Paul’s Senate bill but decided otherwise after it was altered.
The U.S. Senate on Tuesday prevented a bill calling for an audit of the Federal Reserve to advance.
The vote was 53 to 44, with 60 votes needed to allow the measure to stay alive.
Brian Schatz and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, both Democrats, voted against the measure, which was introduced by Republican Rand Paul of Kentucky.
Hirono had been the lone Democrat to support the bill, saying last February, “While the Fed must make its monetary policy decisions based on data, not on politics, we owe it to Hawaii’s middle-class families, small businesses, and others that suffered so much to give them a full accounting of those actions.”
The bill that came to the floor, however, no longer contained language calling for oversight of the audit by the Government Accountability Office.
The GAO is an independent, nonpartisan agency that serve as congressional watchdog on how taxpayer dollars are spent.
Paul is running for president.
On Tuesday, the Libertarian-friendly senator did get Fed-audit backing from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, and from Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin.
