Ben Bernanke actually said...

I think it is consistent with our mandate and with our current policy to maintain price stability, and that is what we have been achieving.

I would argue that it is not responsible to focus all of the restraint on the very near term and do nothing about the long term.

Finding a way to deal with that issue I think is the most challenging part but has the biggest payoff.

Congress sets the mandate for the Federal Reserve, and so Congress has the right to set the mandate of course any way it likes.