Sen. Rand Paul criticized Sen. Ted Cruz Thursday night for missing a vote on his bill to audit the Federal Reserve, arguing that Cruz could compete for libertarian votes.
Speaking at the Republican presidential debate in Iowa, Paul suggested that the missed vote was a reason that Cruz couldn’t attract the “liberty vote” that turned out for his father in previous elections.
“I don’t think they’re necessarily going to go for Ted,” the Kentucky senator said. “You know Ted didn’t show up — we had an audit the Fed vote, which was the biggest thing my dad had been advocating for for 30 years. Ted didn’t have time to show. He’s the only Republican who didn’t show up for it.”
Earlier in January, Paul got a vote in the Senate on his Fed audit legislation. With 53 yes votes, it failed to garner the support needed to overcome a Democratic filibuster.
Cruz responded that he was an original co-sponsor of the bill, but that it didn’t have the votes to pass and he was at a town hall in New Hampshire at the time.
“But I look forward to signing that bill into law as president, and to auditing the Fed and to providing needed accountability to the Federal Reserve,” he said.
He added that he respects Ron Paul, the father of Rand who has long advocating abolishing the Fed, including in a book called End the Fed.
Ron Paul had taken Cruz to task on Twitter following the Fed audit vote, commenting that he was “nowhere to be found.”
Within the week, Rand Paul’s campaign had followed up by publishing a bizarre web video featuring cartoon characters with computer-generated voices discussing Cruz’s absence and suggesting that Paul “audit the Ted.”
Notably, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, a Vermont senator, did vote in favor of the legislation. Sanders has long criticized the Fed as lacking transparency and for its bailouts of financial institutions during the crisis.
Paul’s legislation would removing existing limitations on the Government Accountability Office’s ability to audit the Fed. In practice, the main effect of the measure would be to subject the Fed’s monetary policy deliberations to a policy audit, a step that Chairwoman Janet Yellen and other Fed officials have said would harm the central bank’s independence and politicize monetary policy.
