Subject: [big campaign] MoveOn Supports Auditing the Fed
From: Daniel Mintz <[email-masked]>
To: bigcampaign <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 4 May 2010 14:35:11 -0400
List-Id: <bigcampaign.googlegroups.com>

Statement by Justin Ruben, Executive Director of MoveOn.org Political
Action:

Americans from across the political spectrum agree: The Federal Reserve's
"just trust us" attitude is unacceptable. That's why our 5 million members
are looking to the Senate to pass Sen. Sanders' amendment to bring
transparency to the Fed.

Voters are looking for real accountability for those who wrecked our economy
and then stuck American families with the bill. It is painfully obvious that
our nation's most powerful financial institution not only got it wrong on
the economy, but is now trying to protect itself--and Wall Street--from
being held responsible for their actions.

And below is an email that went out to our members in key states asking them
to call their senators.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Daniel Mintz, MoveOn.org Political Action <[email-masked]
>
Date: Tue, May 4, 2010 at 1:52 PM
Subject: Audit the Fed

  The Senate may hold a critical vote as soon as today to audit the Federal
Reserve. We need an audit to find out which Wall Street banks got $2
trillion of taxpayer-backed loans and on what terms. Can you call Sen.
Feinstein right now and tell her to support Sen. Sanders' amendment to audit
the Fed?

 Senator Dianne Feinstein
Phone: 202-224-3841
 <http://pol.moveon.org/call?tg=FSCA_1&cp_id=1349&id=&t=1>Report your
call<http://pol.moveon.org/call?tg=FSCA_1&cp_id=1349&id=&t=2> Dear
MoveOn member,

Did you know that an arm of the federal government has the power to hand out
unlimited amounts of taxpayer money—without having to tell Congress or the
president who they gave that money to, or why?1

It's called the Federal Reserve, and during the financial crisis, the Fed
gave out more than $2 trillion in taxpayer-backed assistance to big Wall
Street banks.2 You read that right. $2 trillion! And the public still has no
idea who they gave it to and on what terms.3

Today, Sen. Bernie Sanders is offering a critical amendment to the financial
reform bill that would bring transparency and accountability to the Federal
Reserve.

It will give us a public accounting of what went wrong and how our money was
spent so we can learn from this disaster and make sure we don't repeat the
same mistakes in the future.4

Wall Street and the Federal Reserve are fighting the amendment, but we have
a real shot at winning—there is growing bipartisan support for it.5 The vote
could come as soon as this afternoon, so Sen. Feinstein needs to hear from
her constituents today. Can you call Sen. Feinstein right now and tell her
to support the Sanders amendment to audit the Fed?

Senator Dianne Feinstein
Phone: 202-224-3841

Then, please report your call by clicking here:

http://pol.moveon.org/call?tg=FSCA_1&cp_id=1349&id=&t=3
The Fed is supposed to monitor the economy for systemic risks and take
action to prevent them. But instead, they let the housing bubble grow
disastrously big and then tried to clean up the mess they made as quietly as
possible—using our money. And yet, members of the Federal Reserve, like
chair Ben Bernanke, think that they should be able to continue business as
usual with no transparency.6

Newly released minutes from a Federal Reserve meeting in 2004 show that they
had early evidence of the housing bubble, but chose to ignore it. And when
asked whether they should justify that decision publicly, then-chair Alan
Greenspan said:
We run the risk, by laying out the pros and cons of a particular argument,
of inducing people to join in on the debate, and in this regard it is
possible to lose control of a process that only we fully understand.7

In the wake of the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression, it's
clear that Greenspan and the rest of the Federal Reserve got it wrong. But
without a public accounting of what went wrong and who benefited from the
cleanup, we won't be able to identify the mistakes that were made and learn
how to avoid future financial catastrophes.

Can you call Sen. Feinstein right now and ask her to support Sen. Sanders'
amendment to audit the Fed? Tell Sen. Feinstein that it's time to hold Wall
Street accountable.

Senator Dianne Feinstein
Phone: 202-224-3841

Then, please report your call by clicking here:

http://pol.moveon.org/call?tg=FSCA_1&cp_id=1349&id=&t=4
Thanks for all you do.

–Daniel, Jodeen, Nita, Milan, and the rest of the team

Sources:

1. "Federal Reserve System," Wikipedia, May 4, 2010
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Reserve_System

2. "Sen. Sanders to Push Fed Audit Amendment," The Wall Street Journal, May
4, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=88192&id=&t=5

3. "Grayson calls on voters to urge Senate support for Fed audit," The Hill,
May 3, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=88193&id=&t=6

4. "Sen. Sanders to Push Fed Audit Amendment," The Wall Street Journal, May
4, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=88192&id=&t=7

5. "Sen. Sanders to Push Fed Audit Amendment," The Wall Street Journal, May
4, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=88192&id=&t=8

6. "Fed Privately Lobbying Against Audit, Documents Show," The Huffington
Post, May 4, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=88194&id=&t=9

7. "Greenspan Wanted Housing-Bubble Dissent Kept Secret," The Huffington
Post, May 4, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=88195&id=&t=10

 Want to support our work? We're entirely funded by our 5 million members—no
corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures
that small contributions go a long way. Chip in
here<http://political.moveon.org/donate/email.html?id=&t=11>
.
------------------------------
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-- 
**********
Daniel Mintz
Campaign Director
MoveOn.org Political Action
[email-masked]
718-576-2628
**********

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