Santelli Wins the Debate
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
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The winner of the Republican debate on the economy is — wait for it — Rick Santelli. He’s the CNBC star who, after candidates and their interviewers had droned on for 12,000 words, turned to Senator Cruz and asked him to “focus on our central bank, the Federal Reserve.” He asked: “Where do you want to take that? Do you want to get Congress involved in monetary policy, or is it time to slap the Fed back and downsize them completely? What are your thoughts? What do you believe?”
It was the first time in the Republican debate that anyone has opened up what could be the most explosive question of the campaign. Mr. Cruz understood its importance exactly. He asserted that the first thing to do is “audit the Fed,” a reference to the Federal Reserve Transparency Act that was introduced in the Senate by another presidential candidate, Rand Paul. It would establish a mechanism through which Congress could take a more active role in the formation of monetary policy.
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