U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) “is trying once again” to gain support for a bill that would audit the Federal Reserve, and he has the backing of a Hawaii senator.

According to this article in Sputnik News, “Paul’s father, former Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, established legislation during his time in the House and used it as his top issue during his presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2012.”

Paul the son now says, “A complete and thorough audit of the Fed will finally allow the American people to know exactly how their money is being spent by Washington. The Fed’s currently operates under a cloak of secrecy and it has gone on for too long.”

Paul, a possible 2016 Republican presidential candidate, “is following in his father’s footsteps with 30 co-sponsors including one Democratic senator, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, on his side.”

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Hirono’s office confirmed the senator’s support for the legislation.

The senator, who also supported a Fed audit when she was in the U.S. House of Representatives, said, “We’ve come a long way from the depths of the financial crisis. Our country is on a record-long 58 month streak of creating jobs — over 11 million in that time. This is the strongest sustained job growth since the 1990s and the Fed under the leadership of Chairs Bernanke and Yellen has certainly contributed to that success.”

Hirono continued: “That said, we’re now far enough away from the financial crisis for a full and transparent review of the actions taken on behalf of American taxpayers. Greater transparency will help us prevent another Great Recession. I believe will increase the American public’s confidence in the Fed rather than diminishing it.”

Hirono added, “While the Fed must make its monetary policy decisions based on data, not on politics, we owe it to Hawaii’s middle-class families, small businesses, and others that suffered so much to give them a full accounting of those actions.”

Sputnik reports that Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen has urged Congress not to approve an audit, “vowing to argue against any monetary policy bill, saying it could intrude on the board’s independence.”