Senate Voting To End Debate On Ben Bernanke Nomination

news.firedoglake.com — Chris Dodd just moved the Senate to a vote on the nomination of Ben Bernanke for the Chair of the Federal Reserve. Once the Senate scheduled this vote, it was a pretty good sign that they would have the necessary 60 votes to break a filibuster. Still, Democrats like Sheldon Whitehouse and Maria Cantwell have announced their opposition in recent days.

Multiple Senators, including Patty Murray (D-WA), Richard Burr (R-NC), Kent Conrad (D-ND), Bob Casey (D-PA), Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Jack Reed (D-RI), announced support today. Murray’s statement is a representative sample, that Bernanke was partially responsible for the dire economic straits we face, but that he did a good job dealing with the crisis and saving the financial system, so he’ll get another term, reluctantly. An excerpt: