Socialist and an arch-conservative senators team up against Obama and the banks on Fed audit

May 5, 2010 05:58


An unlikely alliance of liberals and conservatives led by socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders and firebrand Sen. Jim Demint could beat President Obama’s and bank lobbyists’ resistance to a measure to audit the Federal Reserve.

By Jonathan StrongThe Daily Caller

An unlikely alliance of liberals and conservatives led by socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders and firebrand Sen. Jim Demint could beat President Obama’s and bank lobbyists’ resistance to a measure to audit the Federal Reserve.

The provision is “absolutely certain” to get a vote on the Senate floor, Sanders said Tuesday. Sanders said Majority Leader Harry Reid is pushing for his amendment to be subject to a 50-vote majority, rather than a 60-vote super-majority, but that Republicans haven’t agreed to that.

A stand-alone bill, like Sanders’s amendment to financial reform legislation, that would remove restrictions on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to audit the Fed, has 32 cosponsors in addition to Sanders. Two-thirds are Republicans.

Obama has dispatched chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, originally a Bush appointee, to stop the amendment.

Sanders slammed the administration for opposing the amendment. “Good question!” he responded when asked how White House opposition to the amendment squares with Obama’s transparency pledges. Sanders said he and Emanuel haven’t spoken about the issue.

Sanders is increasingly optimistic about the amendment’s chances even in spite of White House opposition, he said. A key committee chairman, Sen. Chris Dodd, Connecticut Democrat, isn’t wholly opposed to the amendment, Sanders said. “I think he is not unsympathetic for what we’re trying to do. He may have concerns,” Sanders said, adding that the two were involved in ongoing discussions on the matter.

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