Congressman Tom Price (R-GA) has signed on as a lead cosponsor of H.R. 6406, legislation House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence (R-IN) introduced today to require the Federal Reserve to focus solely on maintaining a strong, stable dollar.

“The Federal Reserve’s dual mandate is leading the Fed to take enormous risks with our currency,” said Congressman Price. “Instead of maximum employment and stable prices, this attempt to serve two masters has left us with high unemployment and a weakened dollar. The Fed’s focus should fall squarely on keeping the dollar strong and stable, which incidentally would also reduce uncertainty in the economy.”

Recently, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke announced that the Fed – in an attempt to promote economic growth – would embark on a new round of “quantitative easing” (QE2) by purchasing $600 billion in new Treasury bonds. As economists have noted, this action could have an inflationary effect on the dollar while doing little to achieve higher employment.

“Quantitative easing threatens the strength and stability of the dollar, as well as the entire global economy,” said Congressman Price. “Protecting the value of Americans’ money would do a lot more than QE2 to revive confidence and the appetite for risk among investors, entrepreneurs, and job creators.”