And for the Fed to interpret the broad language of the Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act as an invitation to write rules instituting a strict form of inflation targeting would be an extreme stretch, though perhaps not for a soft form of inflation targeting.
Normative considerations Granted that there is not much legal precedent for going ahead with inflation targeting on its own, would there be any value in having the Fed start a conversation with the Congress? Left to its own devices, the Congress probably will not move ahead on the Saxton bill or anything like it.