Senate critics arrayed themselves against Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Thursday, determined to take issue with his bid for a second term leading the nation’s central bank even as his confirmation seemed assured.
Bernanke needed a 60-vote super majority to beat a filibuster aimed at blocking his reappointment. Even his opponents predicted he would prevail in the vote scheduled for mid-afternoon.
“Bernanke fiddled while our markets burned,” said Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., voicing a common complaint that Bernanke did not detect the coming crisis and failed to rein in the banking industry.
His supporters argue that once the crisis was upon him he used aggressive and creative measures to bring stability to the financial system.
“He has kept a steady hand on the tiller in a perfect economic storm,” Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., said.
The vote could still be the slimmest for a Federal Reserve nominee, eclipsing the opposition to Paul Volcker in 1983, when he was confirmed for a second term by a vote of 84-16. No Fed chairman nominee has been rejected by the Senate.
The stock market has been rooting for Bernanke. The Dow Jones industrial average plunged last week amid news of mounting opposition, then recovered when his prospects brightened.
The Federal Reserve wields enormous power over American pocketbooks. It has the power to set interest rates that influence economic activity, employment and inflation. And it helps maintain economic stability by making emergency loans to banks when they can’t get cash elsewhere.
“I believe that the chairman is going to be confirmed by a bipartisan vote,” Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Wednesday. (AP)
