Republican House Bill Would Change Fed's Mandate

Seeking to make good on past threats in Congress to rein in the Federal Reserve's powers, a prominent Republican lawmaker said on Thursday he will introduce legislation to focus the U.S. central bank on a single mandate to fight inflation and protect the dollar's value. Representative Kevin Brady, vice chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, said in a statement his "Sound Dollar Act" aims to "maintain the purchasing power of the dollar in order to foster long-term economic growth and stability." He plans to formally introduce it in early March. The Fed since the 1970s has had two mandates - to maintain stability and promote maximum employment - but the latter came under fire from some members of Congress after the Fed started buying hundreds of billions of dollars worth of Treasury and mortgage bonds to push down borrowing rates. Many Republicans have derided the so-called quantitative easing program as "printing money" and say it has devalued the dollar, driving up commodity prices and setting the stage for a nasty bout of future inflation. Continue reading this article

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