Bernanke Gets Backing of Senate Panel For 2nd Term
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Despite some saber rattling, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was confirmed for a second term of four years by the Senate Banking Committee by a vote of 16-7.
The committee met on Thursday to decide whether Bernanke would stay on at the helm of the nation's central bank after a barrage of senators coming out in disapproval of the Chairman.
Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the Senate Banking Committee's senior Republican, voted against the confirmation of Bernanke's second term.
"I strongly disapprove of some of the past deeds of the Federal Reserve while Ben Bernanke was a member and its chairman, and I lack confidence in what little planning for the future he has articulated," Shelby said before the committee vote on Thursday.
Shelby is not the only senator that is lining up to denounce Bernanke's abilities in continuing to navigate the country through the turbulent economy.
Six of the seven senators that voted against Bernanke were from the Republican Party, including Kentucky Sen. Jim Bunning.
Bunning has been a proponent of the Fed releasing detailed documents about its interventions into troubled financial companies. The demands have fallen on deaf ears from the Fed.
"I hope and ask that every member of the committee will join me in demanding that we be given this information before moving forward," Sen. Bunning said. "We must know what the Fed is hiding from us and from the American people."
The single Democratic member of the panel who stood up against a second term for Bernanke was Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley.
"As chairman Dr. Bernanke failed to recognize and remedy the factors that paved the road to this dark and difficult recession," Sen. Merkley stated to the committee. "Following the collapse of our economy, it is apparent that Dr. Bernanke has not changed his overall approach of prioritizing Wall Street over American families."
Others voting against Bernanke were Robert Bennett (R-UT), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Joe DeMint (R-SC) and David Vitter (R-LA).
Even those senators that voted in favor of Bernanke were vocal that the Fedd has not done things right to this point so far.
"I support this nomination. But I want to be clear that with my support comes my insistence that we carefully examine the role of an institution that runs the risk of becoming too complicated to succeed," committee chairman Christopher Dodd (D-CT) said.
In addition Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota said that "there is no doubt the Fed can do better, it can be more proactive and it can better communicate with Congress. But let’s not forget what Mr. Bernanke and the Fed did right during the last many challenging months."
This vote comes the day after Bernanke was named "Person of the Year" by Time Magazine.
The committee met on Thursday to decide whether Bernanke would stay on at the helm of the nation's central bank after a barrage of senators coming out in disapproval of the Chairman.
Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the Senate Banking Committee's senior Republican, voted against the confirmation of Bernanke's second term.
"I strongly disapprove of some of the past deeds of the Federal Reserve while Ben Bernanke was a member and its chairman, and I lack confidence in what little planning for the future he has articulated," Shelby said before the committee vote on Thursday.
Shelby is not the only senator that is lining up to denounce Bernanke's abilities in continuing to navigate the country through the turbulent economy.
Six of the seven senators that voted against Bernanke were from the Republican Party, including Kentucky Sen. Jim Bunning.
Bunning has been a proponent of the Fed releasing detailed documents about its interventions into troubled financial companies. The demands have fallen on deaf ears from the Fed.
"I hope and ask that every member of the committee will join me in demanding that we be given this information before moving forward," Sen. Bunning said. "We must know what the Fed is hiding from us and from the American people."
The single Democratic member of the panel who stood up against a second term for Bernanke was Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley.
"As chairman Dr. Bernanke failed to recognize and remedy the factors that paved the road to this dark and difficult recession," Sen. Merkley stated to the committee. "Following the collapse of our economy, it is apparent that Dr. Bernanke has not changed his overall approach of prioritizing Wall Street over American families."
Others voting against Bernanke were Robert Bennett (R-UT), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Joe DeMint (R-SC) and David Vitter (R-LA).
Even those senators that voted in favor of Bernanke were vocal that the Fedd has not done things right to this point so far.
"I support this nomination. But I want to be clear that with my support comes my insistence that we carefully examine the role of an institution that runs the risk of becoming too complicated to succeed," committee chairman Christopher Dodd (D-CT) said.
In addition Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota said that "there is no doubt the Fed can do better, it can be more proactive and it can better communicate with Congress. But let’s not forget what Mr. Bernanke and the Fed did right during the last many challenging months."
This vote comes the day after Bernanke was named "Person of the Year" by Time Magazine.
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