Arizona Tribune - Members of Congress Introduce Comprehensive U.S. Gold Audit Legislation

Sponsored by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY), Troy Nehls (R-TX), Addison McDowell (R-NC), and Warren Davidson (R-OH), the Gold Reserve Transparency Act (H.R. 3795) would require a full assay, inventory, and audit of all United States gold holdings.

Importantly, H.R. 3795 will also require full disclosure of all transactions involving America's gold, including any purchases, sales, loans, pledges, leases, swaps, and other encumbrances, dating back 50 years. Such activities have not been publicly disclosed.

"Americans deserve transparency and accountability from the institutions that underpin our currency," said Rep. Thomas Massie.

"It's been literally decades since actual inventories and assays have been conducted with respect to U.S. gold reserves, and the Department of the Treasury has lost records as well as failed to account for many occasions when vault compartments were inexplicably opened and resealed without new audits," said Stefan Gleason, CEO of Money Metals Depository.

"The lack of proper audits of America's gold is highly alarming and totally unacceptable - such shoddy procedures would never pass muster in the private sector," continued Gleason, whose company operates a maximum-security gold and silver vault in Idaho that is twice the size of the U.S. Bullion Depository at Fort Knox. "Even if a credible audit had been conducted several decades ago, auditing is never a 'one and done' affair."

The gold audit bill comes in an environment where some nations are growing concerned about their gold stored in the United States or who prefer to hold their gold domestically. For example, leaders in Germany are calling for repatriation of its gold held in the custody of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

An inquiry into America's sound money stockpile is more relevant than ever, given an inflationary environment where $37 trillion in U.S. federal debt looms large and given that many central banks have been accumulating gold at record rates over the last few years.

Jp Cortez, executive director of the Sound Money Defense League said, "Now is the time for transparency surrounding America's gold. As gold is the ultimate form of money recognized the world over, safeguarding the U.S. Treasury Department's holdings of the yellow metal is very much a national security issue."

"Only a thorough audit, not a public-relations stunt such as the 'live walkthrough' as Elon Musk and others proposed, will suffice," he concluded. "This situation requires far more than a fun one-day field trip by politicians to Fort Knox, West Point, and other U.S. Treasury vaults."

To fulfill their obligations under the Gold Reserve Transparency Act, Government Accountability Office and external independent auditors would gain access to any depository or other public or private depositories where gold reserves are kept as well as related records. The process is expected to take up to a year to complete and would be repeated every five years.

Rep. Massie has frequently been a leader on issues related to sound money. The full text of H.R. 3795 can be found here.

About Sound Money Defense League
The Sound Money Defense League is a public policy group working at the state and federal level to bring back gold and silver as America's constitutional money, and publisher of the Sound Money Index.

Media Contact
Jp Cortez
[email protected]
208-258-2528

SOURCE: Sound Money Defense League

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire

Ch.Campbell--AT