The United States government says it has about 261 million troy ounces of gold in its gold reserves. That is rather impressive, if true.
The US government is not a great role model for honesty, though. So, it seems a good idea to put its gold claim to the test.
President Donald Trump talked on occasion in the first couple months of his second term about traveling to Fort Knox where much of the gold is supposed to be held to check if it is really there. But, more recently, he has largely gone silent about the matter.
Maybe an act of Congress is what is needed to double-check that all the gold is where the government says it is. That is just what Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) introduced on Friday — the Gold Reserve Transparency Act (HR 3795).
Massie’s bill requires the Comptroller General to “contract with a qualified, independent, third-party, external auditor to conduct and complete … a full assay, inventory, and audit of all gold reserves” within nine months of the bill becoming law and every five years thereafter. The auditor would also report on other gold reserves related matters including the sufficiency of measures for the physical security of the gold reserves; all encumbrances on the gold at present or entered into over the last 50 years; all sales, purchases, disbursements, or receipts of gold over those 50 years along with identification of the terms and parties for those transactions; and a full accounting of all third parties held gold in which the US government – including the Federal Reserve — has a direct or indirect interest.
The Comptroller General is further required by the legislation to report every five years all results, findings, and determinations of the bill’s required investigations to Congress and the Secretary of the Treasury, as well as on the internet for the public. All relied on source material would need to be included with the reports. Redactions, the bill specifies, may be made only in regard to physical security for the gold reserves.
Massie is an advisory board member for the Ron Paul Institute.
Original cosponsors of the Gold Reserve Transparency Act are Reps. Warren Davidson (R-OH), Addison McDowell (R-NC), and Troy Nehls (R-TX).
