The letter which I read on the air yesterday, sent to some listeners in Provo, Utah from Senator Orrin Hatch, has raised some questions and resulted in several emails.  I was hesitant to send out the original letter because of the receiver’s names and address being prominently attached to that letter, posing potential privacy problems.  The letter I have is a scan of the original, in PDF format.

In order to placate those who are inquiring, however, I gave the letter to Aaron Turpen to see if he could extract it and/or remove the names.  He’s done both.  Below, I’m pasting in the text of the letter (sans greetings and salutations), as well as a scan of the document with complete headers and so forth included.

Thanks for listening!  Here’s the letter text:

Thank you for writing to express your support for legislation that would abolish or regulate the Federal Reserve Board, essentially removing Federal regulation of banking and returning the nation to the “gold standard.” I appreciate hearing from you.

There have been a number of bills introduced in both the Senate and House addressing the Federal Reserve.

You may be interested in the Federal Reserve Transparency Act (H.R. 1207, S. 604). H.R. 1207 was introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Ron Paul on February 26, 2009. Rep. Paul has long been a vocal critic of the Fed and has supported its abolition for some time. H.R. 1207 and S. 604 would amend title 31 of the United States Code, to reform the manner in which the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is audited by the Comptroller General of the United States and the manner in which such audits are reported.

A Senate bill, S 513 was introduced by Senator Bernie Sanders on March 3, 2009. S. 513 would direct the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to publish on its website, with respect to all loans and other financial assistance it has provided since March 24, 2008.

All the Senate bills have been referred to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs where they are pending. The House bills are pending in the House Committee on Financial Services.

Since the Federal Reserve Act was signed into law in 1913, the Federal government has had a role in ensuring the integrity of our country’s financial system in order to protect American investors and consumers against such problems as bank failure. The Federal Reserve System is a mixture of public and private entities. The Federal Reserve Board has been granted the authority by Congress to set monetary policy and to regulate commercial banking activities. While the Federal Reserve System was established as an independent agency, the President of the United States appoints the seven members of the board with the appointments subject to confirmation by the Senate. Congress also has the power to modify the Federal Reserve System.

The system also receives extensive feedback from representatives of the public through frequent meetings with members of the Executive Branch and appearances before congressional committees.

While many people have questioned the constitutionality of the Federal Reserve System based upon provisions in the Constitution which give Congress power to “coin money and to regulate the value thereof,” the Congress has appropriately assigned these authorities to government agencies. For example, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has been given authority to collect taxes. Similarly, the Federal Reserve System has been delegated the authority to establish monetary policy.

The Federal Reserve System is responsive to the needs of the economy, especially the stock market. Compared with virtually all foreign central banks, the Federal Reserve System appears to be very forthcoming in disclosing policies and open to receiving suggestions. Therefore, I am hesitant to support proposals to further erode the independence of the Federal Reserve System or to intrude on the setting of monetary policy. Over the last 25 years, the level of inflation has been quite stable and low, even compared to the period before we created the Federal Reserve.

Rest assured that I will keep your comments in mind should this legislation be taken up by the full Senate.

Again, thank you for writing.

And a scan of the document: