Ron Paul's Successor Not Yet Ready to End Federal Reserve

By Kristina Peterson

WASHINGTON--The next lawmaker to represent Texas's 14th district in the U.S. House of Representatives isn't ready quite yet to end the Federal Reserve--unlike the man he will succeed.

Republican Congressman-elect Randy Weber will take over the seat being vacated by Rep. Ron Paul (R., Texas) when the monetary-policy worrywart, frequent presidential candidate, and Internet sensation retires this year at the end of his 12th term in Congress.

But Mr. Weber, a two-term state representative and the owner of Weber's Air & Heat air-conditioning company, may not immediately assume the mantle of foremost Fed critic on Capitol Hill.

"Ron Paul's Ron Paul and Randy Weber's Randy Weber," Mr. Weber said in an interview Thursday. The Republican said he was still doing his homework on whether to take up Mr. Paul's famous pledge to "end the Fed."

"We probably need to have that discussion," Mr. Weber said. "I have begun to read and do as much research as I can, but we just went through one heck of a campaign."

Mr. Weber had plenty of competition on the way to Washington. In May, he beat out eight other candidates to win the Republican primary. He carried Tuesday night with nearly 54% of the vote in his district, defeating Democrat Nick Lampson, Libertarian Zach Grady and Green Party candidate Rhett Smith.

When he arrives in Washington, Mr. Weber plans to focus on restraining government spending, reducing regulation and cutting the federal-budget deficit. He has signed a pledge vowing not to raise taxes.

"You give Congress more money, guess what? They'll spend it," he said.

Mr. Weber does support auditing the central bank. An outside audit firm already examines all Fed financials, but Republican lawmakers have pushed to open the central bank's core monetary-policy decisions to government scrutiny. An " audit the Fed" bill introduced by Mr. Paul passed the House in July, but hasn't been taken up in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

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Ron Paul's Successor Not Yet Ready to End Federal Reserve