Rep. Ron Paul to tackle Fed at Feb. 9 hearing

That subcommittee typically has not garnered significant attention, but is expected to get a bigger share of the spotlight now that Paul — a longtime, vocal critic of the Fed — is heading the panel.

Paul said Wednesday that his first hearing will focus on whether if the Fed, which has a mandate to maximize employment as well as control inflation, can actually create jobs through its policies.

“Despite enormous amounts of monetary and credit expansion by the Federal Reserve in recent years, the nation’s unemployment picture remains bleak,” he said. “In my view we are now experiencing the bust that inevitably results from the misallocation of capital and human resources in a period of artificially cheap credit. It is important to understand the Federal Reserve’s role in creating today’s unemployment crisis, while also highlighting that high unemployment and low economic growth can persist even in the face of tremendous monetary inflation.”

It is not clear yet whether Paul will be able to grill any actual Fed officials at the hearing. Witnesses will be announced at a later date.