FreedomWorks is proud to honor Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) as our member of the month for September 2020. Senator Paul’s voting record has been 98 percent in alignment with FreedomWorks’ Congressional Scorecard over the ten years he has served as Kentucky’s junior U.S. Senator. During that time, he has consistently been a source and fearless champion of some of the best, limited-government legislation across a wide spectrum of issues.

As we attempt to recover from the economic devastation wrought by the pandemic and the government’s authoritarian response to it, restoring a sound monetary policy may not be near the top of lawmakers’ priorities -- but it should be. With record rates of deficit spending and a record-shattering Federal Reserve balance sheet, it should be no surprise that the dollar’s value is at an all time low when compared to the value of gold. None of this is setting the stage for a rapid recovery, or for robust growth thereafter.

On behalf of FreedomWorks’ activist community, I urge you to contact your representative and urge him or her to cosponsor the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2017, H.R. 24, introduced by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.). The Federal Reserve Transparency Act, which already boasts 44 cosponsors, would require a full audit of the Federal Reserve by the Government Accountability Office.

The hardest part of drafting any new regulation is establishing a definition. In fact, most of the policy work is in the definition and there are alarmingly few policy considerations after something is defined as a covered entity. The definition of cryptocurrency has already proved problematic for regulators. Essentially, to commodities regulators, virtual currency is a commodity. For bank regulators, it is a bank. For securities regulators, it is a security. For those who regulate money transmitters, it is a money transmitter. For the purpose of property taxes, it is a property. Everyone wants a stake in the new world of virtual currency.

FreedomWorks was represented at the University of California in Irvine this past weekend at the California Young Americans for Liberty State Convention, in order to push our Generational Theft survey and youth outreach for our upcoming Generational Theft fly-in during the FreePAC: Morning in America Summit, in Cincinnati March 12.

On January 12, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act (S. 2232) is scheduled for a vote in the Senate. Authorizing review by the Governmental Accountability Office of our nation’s monetary policy, the bill was introduced by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). But the bill’s final vote is arguably due to the legacy of the Senator’s father, former Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.), who championed the causes of sound money and central bank transparency over his 12-term career in Congress. Dr. Paul is the subject of this week’s Profiles in Liberty.

On Tuesday, Sen. Rand Paul will finally secure a Senate vote on his perennially authored bill to audit the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States. This is a bill that has been offered by Paul, and by his father Ron Paul before him, every year since 2009, but this will be the first time the Senate has actually voted on it.