U.S. Republicans eye return to fixed value for dollar

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican Party is set to call for the creation of a commission to look at possible ways to set a fixed value for the dollar, 40 years after President Richard Nixon ended its link to gold.

A draft of the party platform to be adopted at the Republican National Convention next week in Tampa, Florida, ties the plan to "cleaning up the wreckage" of President Barack Obama's policies.

The proposal recalls a commission created in 1981 by President Ronald Reagan to consider restoring the convertibility of the dollar into metal. The commission advised against such a move in the end.

"Now, three decades later, as we face the task of cleaning up the wreckage of the current administration's policies, we propose a similar commission to investigate possible ways to set a fixed value for the dollar," the platform would say, according to draft language provided to Reuters by a Republican National Committee official who declined to be named.

Marsha Blackburn, a Republican congresswoman from Tennessee and co-chair of the platform committee, was quoted earlier in the day as saying these points were not an effort to placate libertarian Representative Ron Paul and the delegates he picked up during his campaign for the party's nomination.

"These were adopted because they are things that Republicans agree on," Blackburn told the Times. "The House (of Representatives) recently passed a bill on this, and this is something that we think needs to be done."

The Republicans are finalizing their platform, a non binding statement of principles that will come up for a vote at the convention at which Mitt Romney is expected to get the nod as President Barack Obama's challenger in the November 6 election.

(Reporting By Jim Wolf; Editing by Xavier Briand)

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