In an interview with Kitco News, Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) said that he plans to introduce legislation next year that will allow for the auditing of U.S. gold reserves, said reserves believed to exist (though it’s not clear how much has been leased out and when it’s due back) but not properly counted in some time (since the Eisenhower Administration).

Paul dropped the news in the interview, indicating that the bill still does not have an official name yet but will be unveiled at the start of the new U.S. Congress.

“If there was no question about the gold being there, you think they would be anxious to prove gold is there,” he said of the Federal Reserve.

This is not the first time the congressman has made his pitch. “In the early 1980s when I was on the gold commission, I asked them to recommend to the Congress that they audit the gold reserves – we had 17 members of the commission and 15 voted no to the audit,” said Paul. “I think there was only one decent audit done 50 years ago,” he said.

Though Paul did not say whether there is any truth to claims that there is no gold in Fort Knox or the New York Federal Reserve, he said, “I think it is a possibility.”

“If we ever get around to deciding we should use gold in relationship to our currency we ought to know how much is there,” said Paul. “Our Federal Reserve admits to nothing and they should prove all the gold is there. There is a reason to be suspicious and even if you are not suspicious why wouldn’t you have an audit?” he said.

Paul also offers a few thoughts on the Federal Reserve (abolish it), the use of gold and silver as legal tender (he’s for it), which new regulations he’d get rid of (all of them), and the U.S. economy (no double-dip recession, just one big single-dip).