The US Senate Banking Committee on Thursday approved the nomination of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke for a second term, according to dpa. The committee voted 16-7 to back his nomination, which will now have to be confirmed by the full Senate. Bernanke"s current four-year term expires on January 31. In August, President Barack Obama reappointed Bernanke to a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, electing stability over change in a time of economic crisis. "Ben Bernanke has led the Fed through one of the worst financial crises that this nation and the world has ever faced," Obama said, crediting the central bank head with helping to bring Wall Street back under control. Bernanke has been in charge of the US money supply and large areas of banking and financial regulation during the ongoing recession, which grew out of a crash in housing prices and turned into a global crisis last year as mounting mortgage defaults sparked panic on Wall Street. He has won praise for his handling of the fallout from the economic crisis. The Fed has lowered interest rates to a historic low of close to 0 per cent and sharply expanded its money supply in order to provide financing to banks on the verge of collapse. But Bernanke also drew sharp criticism from many lawmakers for failing to heed the warning signs and help avert the financial meltdown, which began with the collapse of investment powerhouse Lehman Brothers in September. Bernanke"s chief task in his second term will be unwinding many of the drastic measures the central bank has used to stabilize the financial system.
