Full Senate to vote on Bernanke; PANEL ADVANCES RENOMINATION Sharp debate hints at difficult confirmation
Ben S. Bernanke cleared a key hurdle Thursday to being confirmed for a second term as Federal Reserve chairman, but the discussion and vote by a Senate committee suggested that confirmation is not a foregone conclusion.</br></br>The banking committee voted 16 to 7 to send Bernanke's nomination for another four-year term to the full Senate when his current one expires Jan. 31. While it still appears likely that Bernanke will be confirmed, the tense debate foreshadowed what could be the most controversial confirmation of a Fed chairman since at least the early 1980s, when Paul Volcker was reappointed during a deep recession.</br></br>The majority of senators argued that Bernanke deserves reappointment for his aggressive actions to contain the financial crisis and prevent an even deeper economic downturn.</br></br>But many of the votes in Bernanke's favor -- which came from four of 10 Republicans and 12 of 13 Democrats -- were accompanied by significant misgivings about the weak economy and failures by the Fed that contributed to the financial crisis. Some senators who voted to move the nomination forward did not commit to voting for his confirmation on the Senate floor.</br></br>Time could be Bernanke's enemy. The Senate is scheduled to reconvene after a holiday recess on Jan. 19, and banking committee Chairman Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) expects the body will only then take up Bernanke's confirmation. That will leave just nine business days for the Senate to act before Bernanke's term expires. Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.) has said he will put a hold on the nomination, a procedural step that could delay a vote and means that Bernanke would need 60 votes to remain chairman.