The effort to increase the transparency of the Federal Reserve's operations has picked up surprising momentum over the last month, with more and more rank-and-file members of Congress steadily signing on to a bill introduced in February by Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) to expand the authority of the Government Accountability Office to audit the Fed.

The bill has surged past 200 cosponsors and is just five short of the 218 needed for passage. On Tuesday, Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, the Republican Leader, signed on.

Fifty-one Democrats have joined 156 Republicans so far to back HR 1207. A similar bill sponsored by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) also has momentum and is on pace for a congressional hearing soon in the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, where Kucinich is a subcommittee chairman.

The bill would authorize the GAO to audit the Fed's funding facilities, such as the Primary Dealer Credit Facility, Term Securities Lending Facility, and Term Asset-Backed Securities Lending Facility – known as TALF.

The Fed has expanded its liabilities and its balance sheet massively since September 2008, buying toxic assets and lending hundreds of billions to foreign central banks in unchecked swaps, then sending that foreign currency to U.S. banks.