Alan Grayson for U.S. Congress

News & Announcements List > News Item

Real Bipartisanship
Saturday, September 26, 2009
By: Alan Grayson for Congress Campaign

When you're an elected official, one thing you hear from people, all the time, is this: "I wish that all of you would work together to solve our problems. Stop fighting each other."

Do you want to see an example of working together, of real bipartisanship? Then look at the front page of today's Orlando Sentinel - "Push to Audit Fed Pairs Grayson, Paul." The Sentinel reports on how Democrat Alan Grayson has teamed up with Republican Ron Paul to stop bailouts by reining in the Federal Reserve Bank ("the Fed").

A month ago, Congressman Grayson exposed at a Congressional hearing the startling fact that the Fed had doled out $500,000,000,000 to foreigners - without even knowing who got the money! The week that it was posted, that clip was the second-most-watched news video in the world. And Congressman Grayson's earlier grilling of the Fed's Inspector General has now been downloaded by 2.8 million people, making it the most-watched Congressional hearing clip in history.

But Republican Congressman Ron Paul has been warning people about abuses at the Fed for far longer. Dr. Paul introduced a bill to audit the Fed way back in 1983 - when Grayson was still in school. Even when the Republicans were in charge of Congress, Wall Street was able to block a hearing on Dr. Paul's bill, much less a vote. But Congressman Grayson busted right through 26 years of roadblocks by taking Dr. Paul's bill, and signing up over 100 House Democrats to co-sponsor it. With that bipartisan support, the bill became unstoppable. And yesterday, Congress finally held a hearing on Dr. Paul's bill. See it here.

The Sentinel describes Congressman Grayson and Congressman Paul as "one of Washington's oddest couples." But what's really odd is that it's considered odd for Democrats and Republicans to work together. "It doesn't matter to me whether Dr. Paul is a Republican or a Democrat," said Congressman Grayson. "What matters to me is that he's right. No more bailouts."

Congressman Alan Grayson. He works hard, with both Democrats and Republicans. He pays attention. He gets things done.