Thursday, December 3, 2009

No Rubber Stamp for Bernanke Re-Nomination

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said late Wednesday that he will put a hold on Bernanke's nomination. A hold is an informal practice in which a senator informs the majority leader that he does not want a measure or nomination to reach the floor for a vote.

"The American people overwhelmingly voted last year for a change in our national priorities to put the interest of ordinary people ahead of the greed of Wall Street and the wealthy few," said Sanders, one of Bernanke's sharpest critics, in a statement. "What American people did not bargain for was another four years for one of the key architects of the Bush economy."

Sanders said Bernanke, who took the helm of the Fed in 2006, could have averted the financial crisis in several ways, but failed at "core responsibility of the Federal Reserve" and thus "it's time for him to go."

Among the litany of reasons he cited for his move, the statement from Sanders' office noted that unemployment had more than doubled under Bernanke's watch and more than 120 banks have failed since he became chairman.

read the CNN article

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