UPDATE 2-Ron Paul vows renewed Fed audit push next year

Urges return to gold standard

* Republican says also to scrutinize IMF

(Adds additional detail, background, quotes, byline)

By Andy Sullivan

WASHINGTON, Nov 4 (Reuters) - U.S. Republican Representative Ron Paul on
Thursday said he will push to examine the Federal Reserve's monetary
policy decisions if he takes control of the congressional subcommittee
that oversees the central bank as expected in January.

"I think they're way too independent. They just shouldn't have this
power," Paul, a longtime Fed critic, said in an interview with Reuters.
"Up until recently it has been modest but now it's totally out of
control."

Paul is currently the top Republican on the House of Representatives
subcommittee that oversees domestic monetary policy, and is likely to
head the panel when Republicans take control of the chamber in January.

That could create a giant headache for the Fed, which earlier this year
fended off an effort headed by Paul to open up its internal
deliberations on interest rates and monetary easing to congressional
scrutiny.

Paul, who has written a book called "End the Fed," has been a fierce
critic of the central bank's efforts to boost the economy through
monetary policy.

"It's an outrage, what is happening, and the Congress more or less has not said much about it," he said.

Paul said his subcommittee would also push to examine the country's gold
reserves and highlight the views of economists who believe that
economic downturns are caused by bad monetary policy, not the vagaries
of the free market.

Global organizations like the International Monetary Fund also will come under scrutiny, he said.

"Eventually we're going to have monetary reform. I do not believe the
dollar can be the reserve standard of the world," said Paul, who has
called for returning the United States to a currency backed by gold or
silver.

Many economists say that the Fed's decisive actions during the 2008
financial crisis prevented the deep recession that followed from turning
into a depression. But grassroots outrage over the bank bailouts and
other Fed actions helped propel many Republican candidates to victory in
Tuesday's congressional elections -- including Paul's son, Rand Paul,
who will represent Kentucky in the Senate.

"With a lot of new members coming and the problems getting worse rather
better, there's going to be a lot more people who are going to be
looking for answers," Paul said.

(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

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