Ben Bernanke Wins Second Term As Federal Reserve Chief

WASHINGTON, Jan. 28, 2010— -- Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke was reconfirmed by the Senate today to a second term as the head of the central bank after surviving weeks of bipartisan criticism for his failure to see the emerging financial crisis that triggered the worst recession since the Great Depression.

The final vote to reconfirm was 70-30.

At the start of the month Bernanke seemed a surefire bet to win the support of lawmakers after he passed a committee vote and was elected TIME magazine's man of the year.

But that all changed when the Democrats lost a crucial Senate seat in Massachusetts, in part due to widespread populist backlash about the nation's ongoing recession.

Support for Bernanke suddenly dwindled. Detractors multiplied.

Even as lawmakers today debated a second term for Bernanke, opposition to the Fed chief brought together some strange bedfellows on Capitol Hill.

"I think this is probably the biggest mistake we're going to make in a long time," Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., warned his colleagues before the vote.

Across the aisle Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., agreed.

"I think people have to be held accountable for their actions along the way," Boxer said. "Chairman Bernanke has to be held accountable for his."

But confirmation was assured after his nomination survived a Senate cloture vote 73-27, blocking any chance for a filibuster.

Bernanke's critics have claimed that the Fed chief did not do enough to prevent the nation's financial meltdown in the fall of 2008. While even some of his supporters shared that view, Bernanke eventually won the backing of lawmakers who argued that the central bank boss may have helped avert a second Great Depression.

"He basically allowed the Fed to become the lender of the nation," said Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H. "The way he did it was extraordinary in its creativity and the results were that the country's financial system did not collapse. And many Americans, every day Americans' lives were not fundamentally disrupted because of the actions of chairman Bernanke."

With the country's economy on the verge of a full-scale collapse in the fall of 2008, Bernanke and other policy-makers in Washington led the charge for massive government intervention. The Fed has since spent trillions on economic rescue programs.

Bernanke was first appointed Fed chairman four years ago by President Bush. Last August President Obama interrupted his summer vacation on Martha's Vineyard to nominate the central bank chief to a second term.