Senate Panel Backs Bernanke for a Second Term at Fed
WASHINGTON — The Senate Banking Committee voted Thursday to approve the nomination of Benjamin S. Bernanke for a second four-year term as chairman of the Federal Reserve, providing what President Obama has said would be critical continuity as the nation works through its gravest economic challenges in decades.
The 16-to-7 vote, which came after a debate that saw flashes of the populist anger that has erupted amid a sluggish and highly uneven recovery, was not unexpected. But it represented a retreat from his near-unanimous approval by the committee four years ago. Neither party’s members voted en bloc, and even some of Mr. Bernanke’s supporters said they harbored reservations and might reconsider when the vote goes to the full Senate.
Even as Mr. Bernanke is widely credited for helping stabilize markets and averting economic calamity, outspoken critics, not all of them Republicans, have blamed him for enormously costly initiatives that have bolstered some Wall Street financial firms while leaving ordinary Americans staring at persistent double-digit jobless rates.
Mr. Greenspan, 56, has also been criticized for not doing more to prevent the financial crisis. He was originally named to the Fed chairmanship in 2005 by President Bush, as a successor to Alan Greenspan.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/18/business/economy/18fed.html
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