Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s nomination to a second term is in fresh jeopardy because of growing opposition from Senate Democrats, who have been battered by public anger about the economy and the political setback of losing a Massachusetts Senate seat to the Republicans this week.
At least four Senate Democrats have said they will oppose President Barack Obama’s decision to renominate the Fed chairman.
Critics of Bernanke, who was named to his first term by former President George W. Bush, are pressing the case that he was an architect of policies that helped drag the U.S. into a period of recession and high unemployment. His term expires Jan. 31.
“It is time for a change,” Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said Friday, hours after Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., announced his opposition to Bernanke.
“It is time for Main Street to have a champion at the Fed,” Boxer said. “Our next Federal Reserve chairman must represent a clean break from the failed policies of the past.”
Bernanke received an important boost late Friday, when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., endorsed the renomination. But several other Democrats remained noncommittal.
Amid uncertainty about Bernanke’s fate, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped nearly 217 points, or 2.1 percent, on Friday, after falling sharply a day earlier on Obama’s announcement that he would pursue strict new banking regulations.
The White House predicts Bernanke will be confirmed. But uncertainty about the outcome is a sign of Democratic concerns that the party needs to do more to convince voters that it feels their economic pain and will fight for them against powerful institutions.
Some Democrats are worried that their party will overreact to the Massachusetts defeat. Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., who supports Bernanke, said a Senate vote blocking his confirmation would rattle markets and destabilize the economy at a time when consumers need reassurance.
“We ought not to scapegoat Ben Bernanke,” he said.
Chris Krueger, a political strategist with Concept Capital, an institutional brokerage firm, said in a research note Friday that there was a 55 percent chance Bernanke would not be reconfirmed.
“Bernanke is really looking like he’s going to be the fall guy for Massachusetts, which is incredibly unfortunate and unwarranted,” Krueger said.
Asked about the Bernanke nomination Friday, White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton said Obama “has a great deal of confidence in what Chairman Bernanke did to bring our economy back from the brink.”
“He continues to think he is the best person for the job and will be confirmed by the United States Senate,” Burton said.
Read the original article from Tribune News Services.
Chicago police on Friday found about $125,000 worth of stolen goods when they served a search warrant on a West Side home, marking the second fencing operation broken up this week.
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About 2,000 City of Chicago truck drivers plan a vote next week which might authorize a strike that could cripple such vital city services as snow removal, garbage collection and airport operations.
