Rep. Scott Garrett wasn't too impressed with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's comments late Wednesday that the Fed plans to maintain its accommodative policy for the foreseeable future.

"The refrain that he could have ended his remarks with is that on both charges of their mandate, the Fed is failing," the six-term New Jersey congressman told Newsmax TV in an exclusive interview. The central bank is charged with keeping both inflation and unemployment low.

"They have two responsibilities — he just laid them out clearly — and he's saying they are not meeting their mandate, which is no surprise," said Garrett, a Republican member of the House Budget and Financial Services committees.

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"What is a surprise is the fact they have completely done a 180, a vacillation, from where they've staked their position before."

Bernanke said in June that if the economy grows in line with Fed policymakers' forecasts, the central bank will likely begin tapering its quantitative easing (QE) this year.

Editor’s Note: Put the World’s Top Financial Minds to Work for You

"In reality, this is no surprise to us Fed watchers who knew, from day one, when they began their rollout of QE1 . . . to infinity, that the day when the proverbial punchbowl was going to be taken away, that would be the day when the pressure would be put back onto the Fed to . . . provide yet another easing," the congressman said.

Garrett, chairman of the Financial Services Committee's subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government-Sponsored Enterprises, has been heavily involved with the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act.

The 2012 law is designed to encourage financing of small businesses by loosening various securities regulations that stand in the way of them going public.

This week Garrett released a statement lauding the Securities and Exchange Commission for "finally" adopting a rule to implement a JOBS Act requirement to lift the ban on general solicitation or general advertising for certain private securities offerings.

Editor’s Note: Put the World’s Top Financial Minds to Work for You