Republican Party Platform Reportedly To Eye Return To Gold Standard

WASHINGTON, Aug 23 (Reuters) - The Republican Party is set to call for the creation of a commission to look at restoring a link between the U.S. dollar and gold severed 40 years ago, the Financial Times reported on its website Thursday.

Drafts of the party platform to be adopted at the Republican National Convention next week in Tampa, Florida, also call for an audit of Federal Reserve monetary policy, the paper said.

Marsha Blackburn, a Republican congresswoman from Tennessee and co-chair of the platform committee, was quoted as saying these points are not an effort to placate libertarian Representative Ron Paul and the delegates he picked up during his campaign for the party's nomination.

"These were adopted because they are things that Republicans agree on," Blackburn told the Times. "The House (of Representatives) recently passed a bill on this, and this is something that we think needs to be done."

Blackburn could not immediately be reached for comment. A spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee did not respond to a request for comment.

The proposal is reminiscent of a "Gold Commission" created by former President Ronald Reagan in 1981, 10 years after President Richard Nixon broke the link between gold and the dollar during the 1971 oil crisis. That commission ultimately supported the status quo.

The Republicans are finalizing their platform, a nonbinding statement of principles that will come up for a vote at the convention to nominate Mitt Romney as President Barack Obama's challenger in the Nov. 6 general election.