With the American economy still struggling to recover and its long-term structural strength in question, policymakers and politicians are focusing on the Federal Reserve. Republican congressman Kevin Brady of Texas, the vice chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, is proposing new legislation that aims to reorient the Fed’s mandates from Congress to a single role: maintaining price stability.

“Economists broadly agree that the best way for a central bank to help maximize real economic growth and job creation is to maintain stable prices over time,” Brady said Monday afternoon at the American Enterprise Institute. “One need only look to the Great Depression of the 1930’s and the Great Inflation of the 1970’s to see that both price deflation and price inflation are destructive. Both reduce real output and employment below what they would have otherwise been. Thus, the goal of monetary policy should be long-term price stability.”