Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was recommended Thursday for a second term as head of the nation's central bank by the Senate Banking Committee.
Approval from the committee came on a 16-7 vote after a spirited two-hour debate over Bernanke's handling of the financial crisis. Senators heaped both praise and criticism on the banking chief.
The panel's chairman, Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT), said Bernanke's "wise leadership" of the Federal Reserve will mean "better days do lie ahead." He said Bernanke was not perfect "but certainly, I think, stepping up at a critical time in the nation's history with some wise leadership that benefited our nation."
The opposition to Bernanke came from an odd coalition of liberals and conservatives.
Republican Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama criticized Bernanke, a Bush administration appointee, for not seeing warning signs that a financial crisis was pending. "I will be opposing a second term for Dr. Bernanke," Shelby said.
The others voting against Bernanke were Jim Bunning of Kentucky, Jim DeMint of South Carolina, David Vitter of Louisiana, Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas and Mike Crapo of Idaho — all Republicans — along with Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat.
Bernanke, 56, appears to have enough votes to win on the Senate floor, but Vermont independent Bernie Sanders has placed a hold on the nomination, which could delay action for 60 days. Sanders and some others blame Bernanke for not spotting problems that led to the financial crisis, failing to protect consumers and supporting Wall Street bailouts.
The vote comes as legislation is pending in Congress that would rein in the Fed's powers, and a House-passed provision would subject the Fed to an audit by congressional investigators.
It also came a day after Time magazine gave Bernanke its highest honor as Person of the Year. Bernanke's "creative leadership" was credited with helping to ensure that 2009 was a period of economic recovery, rather than "catastrophic depression."
Despite lawmaker anger over the bailouts and worries about stubbornly high unemployment, even some of Bernanke's critics say his thinking helped prevent the recession from becoming deeper.
"Obviously mistakes were made," said Republican Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, who voted for Bernanke. However, assessing Bernanke's swift reaction to the financial and economic crisis, Gregg concluded: "I tell you, it worked. It's that simple."
From NPR and wire service reports
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