WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is expected to face tough questioning during a reappointment hearing this week, and one senator already says he won’t support another term for the Fed chief.
Vermont independent Bernie Sanders says Bernanke is “part of the problem” facing the U.S. economy.
The Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee has scheduled a hearing Thursday to consider President Barack Obama’s nomination of Bernanke. The Fed chief was first appointed by President George W. Bush.
“He is part of the problem,” Sanders said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” “Why didn’t he do anything to prevent us from entering into this disaster?”
Sanders does not sit on the banking committee, but Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., does.
Bernanke has been Fed chief during the worst economic decline since the Depression. He defended his actions in a column published Sunday in The Washington Post, saying the Fed played a major role in “arresting the crisis.”
While lawmakers generally hold Bernanke in high regard, many are unhappy with the Fed’s performance in the run-up to the economic crisis and with the bailouts that Bernanke engineered during last year’s financial collapse. He is expected to be confirmed, but it won’t be a comfortable process for him. The Associated Press
