WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke faced mounting Senate opposition for another four-year term Friday, even as the White House described President Barack Obama as confident about his confirmation.
Four Democrats say they will vote against Bernanke on the Senate floor. And at least two senators who voted for Bernanke in the Senate Banking Committee last month are weighing their support.
Many others have not made their inclinations known, suggesting a vacillation in the Senate over Bernanke and his stewardship of Wall Street both before and after the financial crisis.
While no one is declaring his confirmation doomed, the emergence of opposition and the shift by some to undecided illustrate just how difficult the terrain has gotten for Obama, especially since a Republican victory in a Senate race in Massachusetts this week.
The roster arrayed against him grew Friday, with Democratic Sens. Barbara Boxer of California and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin joining the opposition.
“It is time for a change — it is time for Main Street to have a champion at the Fed,” Boxer said.
Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., who opposed Bernanke in committee, also said Friday that he was opposing Bernanke’s nomination. He blamed Bernanke for more than missing signs of the smoldering crisis. “Ben Bernanke helped set the fire,” Merkley said.
Democrat Byron Dorgan of North Dakota announced Thursday that he would oppose Bernanke on the Senate floor.
