mr. ben bernanke as chairman of the federal reserve board. mr. bernanke has been serving as chairman of the federal reserve board -- and i'll be the first to say that i think there are things that mr. bernanke has done that are very important to this country. he steered our country in a very difficult circumstance. there was a time when our economy could have near completely collapsed, which would have been devastating. it was teetering on the precipice of that. mr. bernanke and others made decisions, some of which i thought were very good decisions. it is the case that mr. bernanke worked for the previous administration that in many ways created circumstances that took us to that cliff, or near the cliff, with economic policies. i'll talk about that for just a moment. but when mr. bernanke became chairman of the federal reserve board, i understood his background that fit fairly well with what we were going there. as i said, i think he did some things that should be commended and should be supported, and i support that. i've told him that i suppo

mr. president, what i want to touch upon is my strong belief that ben bernanke should not be reappointed for a second term as chairman of the federal reserve. and in that regard i place a hold on his nomination. mr. president, everybody in this country understands that we're in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the great depression. we are looking at 17% of our people being either unemployed or underemployed. we are looking at average length of unemployment being longer than it has been since world war ii. we are looking at a situation where over the last eight or nine years, median household income has declined by over $2,000. we are looking at a situation where, according to "u.s.a. today", accept 18, 2009 -- quote --"the incomes of the young and middle-aged, especially men, have fallen off a cliff since 2000 leesk more age -- leaving more age groups poorer than they were in the 1980's." we're seeing a collapse in the middle class, an increased gap between the rich and everybody else. and then, to make a very bad situation worse, as a result of the greed or irresponsibility,

mr. president, i rise today to speak in opposition to the nomination of the honorable ben bernanke to be chairman of the board of governors of the federal reserve system. mr. president, i am somewhat conflicted about dr. bernanke's nomination for a second term as chairman of the federal reserve. our nation's economy is still realing from a -- is still reeling from a significant downturn in which foreclosures rapidly increased wreaking havoc on our financial system. markets tumbled, banks and businesses failed, millions of jobs were lost. er ultimately, the american people have borne the brunt of this recession, watching jobs, homes, and life's savings vanish while seeing their hard-earned trasm dollars bail out the bad actors that caused it. that being said, the financial crisis could have been worse t could have turned into a depression and so far we are not there. i believe some of what dr. bernanke did was good. he is an expert on the great depression. he unlieshed an -- he unleashed an arsenal of financial tools to combat the recession. he tried to inject liquidity into the financial

mr. president, i intend to do my job and vote no on the second term of ben bernanke. >> senator from connecticut. >> recognized from a colleague from new jersey for five minutes. >> mr. president. >> senator from new jersey is recognized. >> let me thank my distinguished chairman committee for yielding time. i rise in support of a man whose position i do not envy. chairman bernanke has faced an extraordinary economic circumstances in the us kept a steady hand on the tiller in a perfect economic storm that is threaten this nation's underlying financial stability. faced with an economy that was added in a downward spiral, chairman bernanke in the fed had what appeared to be a set of hops and choices, make tough decisions or preside over a global economic meltdown. i think both of us agree that doing nothing is not an option. having said that, i do believe there was more the fed could have done to mitigate the housing bubbles, supervised the banks, not muscular consumer protections, provide credit to small businesses. i believe in chairman bernanke admitted himself he could have done more to mitiga

mr. ben bernanke. *f by making mr. bernanke the fall guy for all the sins real and perceived of. that has already produced troubling attempts to conduct audits of its monetary policy. that is a partial recitation of the editorial. i can condense the editorial by saying the editorial board at the "washington post," as is always the case, has taken the position that if anybody wants to know anything about what the federal reserve board is doing, it's none of their business. it's none of congress's business, none of the american people's business. stay out of it. keep your nose out of the federal reserve board. that's kind of the position of "the washington post." it is not since the massachusetts election, however, that i have expressed reservations about the the federal reserve board. in fact, on six occasions i've given speeches on the floor of the united states senate just since december 10, 2008, that day plus on five additional occasions i came to the floor to talk about the issues that persuade me to say, as i did last week, i don't even believe we should vote on mr. bernanke

following votes there will be an hour of debate regarding the cloture vote on the nomination of ben bernanke. mr. president, we're going to try to see if we can work with both democrats and republicans to have more time debate prior to a vote on ben bernanke. then f we can work -- if we can work that out, we can have an extended period of time, whatever the senators wanted, prior to mr. bernanke. and then we would have cloture and perhaps final passage. right away we don't have that worked out. the order before the senate is following the series of five votes there will be an hour of debate prior to a cloture vote on ben bernanke. mr. president, i see the distinguished judiciary chair here. we have a half-hour time, and i'd be happy to give to my friend whatever time he desires. how much time does my friend need? ten minutes to the chairman of the judiciary committee, pat leahy. i've already indicated that senator sanders will have 15 minutes of our time. the presiding ce leadership time is reserved. under the previous order, there will be a period of morning business for one hour with the time

mr. president, i rise today to oppose the nomination of ben bernanke as chairman of the fed. i do so as a member of the banking committee who voted against his nomination in that committee, because i researched his record, and on that record i believe that ben bernanke is not the right person to lead the fed. in short, bernanke's decisions over the last eight years as a member of the federal reserve board, as chairman of the council of economic advisors, as chairman of the fed helped set the fire that destroyed our economy. now, mr. bernanke is a calm and unassuming man, responsive and thorough in his explanations and very likeable. in addition, to keep the analo analogy, he has ha done a good b with the fire hose over the last year. he understood that tightening credit during a collapsing bubble economy would be pliek turning off the fire hydrant in the middle of a fire. he did keep the fire hydrant turned on. and i give him credit for that. but now we need to rebuild our economic house, and that takes an architect, not a fireman. that takes a builder, not someone turning on

mr. wessel looks at the will played by federal chairman ben bernanke following the 2008 economic collapse. he discusses his book with allyson rivn current senior fellow at the brookings institution. >> host: hello. i am alice rivlin, and it is my pleasure to be talking to david wessel about his book, "in fed we trust" been bernanke's war of the great panic which actually has a second subtitled, not every book has to subtitles, david. how the federal reserve became the fourth bank of the branch of government. it's a fascinating book. >> guest: thank you. >> host: i loved it, and i think i should make that clear. at the outset, you take the readers step by step through the crisis of the last couple of years from the eyes of the chairman of the federal reserve bin bernanke, so the book lets you see what m.a.d.d. and his colleagues weret they missed, why they did what they did not, the internal tension and uncertainty of how they were learning along the way. you are a very good translator of federal speak by the way, and i have been known to speak did speak although i always try not to but th

mr. bernanke responsible for not only transparency and accountability of the fed but for the well-being of the people of his state. >> woodruff: you know a lot about ben bernanke, you followed him, you have written a book about him. how do you explain this uneasiness over him, and really much of it all of a sudden. how much of it is due to the results tuesday in massachusetts? >> i think that benn bernanke has become a lightning rod for the public anger that wall street got bailed out and main street didn't. he was like tim quitener the treasury secretary, one of the people at the scene. and in my view he did a lot that sieve is aed us from a second great depression. but right now people are seeing 10% unemployment and big profits on wall street and they're angry about that, and he is a very convenient target. and the fed has often been a target for people's anger about money and stuff like that. and so people are remembering the bailout and are angry about that. and they are not convinced that as mr. bernanke has said it could have been worse had he not done what he did. >> woodruff: now the opposition from democrats, david, is based-- is it for diff

ben s. bernanke of new jersey to be chairman of the board of governors for a term of four years. the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mre federal reserve board of governors. as the administration and song continue to look for ways to restore our nation's financial stability for economic recovery and work on the legislation to ensure that another economic crisis like the one we faced last year never happens again, we need chairman bernanke's steady leadership. while there has certainly been criticism of the federal reserve for not doing enough to protect consumers and for unprecedented actions it took during the financial crisis, there is also consensus that mr. bernanke kept the nation out of a depression and has kept inflation in check. as our nation recovers and faces additional challenges in the months ahead, there is no doubt that having one of the world's foremost experts on the great dpletion at the helm of the fed is a benefit to our nation, but it cannot be business as usual for the fed. like many banks on wall street, the fed must be more transparent and more accountable for its actions. the federal reserve ca

mr. brown goes to washington writes about swearing in expected this week and then the "new york times" reporting ben bernanke the white house is more confident now he'll be reconfirmed. what's happening. guest: there was this enormous scare thrown into ben bernanke and the white house when a couple of democratic senators said that they wouldn't support him and there's been a couple of other - am i right? guest: and bernie sanders. >> right and there's a few republicans apposed to him. white house, this is basically seen as residual angl anger at bernanke's failure to see the financial crisis coming and spending too much attention on the banks and also to pooring billions of dollars in the economy. guest: market had it's biggest loss in a year. guest: facing this the market had a terrible week. if ben bernanke were not reconfirmed, what effect would that have? i think it would be a terrible effect and i think republicans are thinking, they appointed ben bernanke and he's probably better than what republicans would get if obama were allowed to a point a new one. why not stick with him? host: jackie combs has a

mr. obama seems either uninterested in the global threats we face, and persuaded that the current -- that they constitute dangers to the country." virginia, gary, your thoughts on ben bernanker: thank you very much, i really appreciate you taking my call. i had to use every gray sell that i had to try to understand ben bernanke last night. i was listening to him on the radio talking about that regulation. i agree with him. i still got a headache. it just packed my brain. i really had a hard time. it is complicated and complex. another thing that i have to say that i think is important, our uso shows in iraq and afghanistan, i was watching them last year. they were making vulgar, juvenile jokes about the middle eastern women in their culture. host: but shows are you referring to? caller: the uso shows we were putting on. i was watching the pentagon channel. host: is that where you can see them? ok. caller: i was really appalled. i was raised overseas. i went to uso shows. we used to have officials and local nationals, an indigenous personnel from that country. just to hear the jokes that those comedians were making, if i was a base commander i would have had the mp's drag th

mr. brown goes to washington writes about swearing in expected this week and then the "new york times" reporting ben bernankethe white house is more confident now he'll be reconfirmed. what's happening. guest: there was this enormous scare thrown into ben bernanke and the white house when a couple of democratic senators said that they wouldn't support him and there's been a couple of other - am i right? guest: and bernie sanders. >> right and there's a few republicans apposed to him. white house, this is basically seen as residual angl anger at bernanke's failure to see the financial crisis coming and spending too much attention on the banks and also to pooring billions of dollars in the economy. guest: market had it's biggest loss in a year. guest: facing this the market had a terrible week. if ben bernanke were not reconfirmed, what effect would that have? i think it would be a terrible effect and i think republicans are thinking, they appointed ben bernanke and he's probably better than what republicans would get if obama were allowed to a point a new one. why not stick with him? host: jackie combs has a

floor there's a lot of focuses on the nomination of ben bernanke to serve as chair of the federal reserve. harry reid has yet to take the procedural steps. mr. bernanke bank of america's term ends this thursday. several democratic senators have noted their opposition to his nomination. >> geoff hoon served as the former defense secretary under british prime minister tony blair from 1999 to 2005. last week he testified before the british iraq committee, a five-member committee examining the british in the iraq war. questions focused on mr. hoon's relationship with then defense secretary donald rumsfeld and the assessment of the military be this is over 2 1/2 hours. >> well, good morning, ladies and gentlemen. today we begin hearing from members of the government who were involved in the buildup and the decision to commit force to action in iraq in 2003. this session are to examine the right honorable geoff hoon the former secretary of state for defense the key discussions and decisions taken on iraq. and their implementation within the ministry of defense and the government. during his period of secretary of defense. it will cover from summe

mr. obama seems either uninterested in the global threats we face, and persuaded that the current -- that they constitute dangers to the country." virginia, gary, your thoughts on ben bernanke and regulation on the part of the fed? caller: thank you very much, i really appreciate you taking my call. i had to use every gray sell that i had to try to understand ben bernanke last night. i was listening to him on the radio talking about that regulation. i agree with him. i still got a headache. it just packed my brain. i really had a hard time. it is complicated and complex. another thing that i have to say that i think is important, our uso shows in iraq and afghanistan, i was watching them last year. they were making vulgar, juvenile jokes about the middle eastern women in their culture. host: but shows are you referring to? caller: the uso shows we were putting on. i was watching the pentagon channel. host: is that where you can see them? ok. caller: i was really appalled. i was raised overseas. i went to uso shows. we used to have officials and local nationals, an indigenous personnel from that country. just to hear the jokes that those comedians were making, if i was a bas

ben bernanke. but before this hostility turned on the federal reserve, when alan greenspan was heading up the federal reserve, there seemed to be admiration or reverence for what mr greenspan would say. how can this institution be both revered by some people and have distain for mothers? guest: that is easy. when times are good and things are going well, they were great and people like them. when times are bad, as i have been, people say, look, why is the public angry about the puppet of reserve is doing -- they don't like the bailout. they don't like the fact that they are advancing number, the example, ford general motors acceptance corp., they did not like that we advance money to general motors and chrysler and hundreds of billion dollars to aig. they say, why of giving all this money to the bankers and the people who made the problem and nothing to us? host: professor, there seems to be distrust of the federal reserve. can you explain how the board is set up, who serves on the board and how the regional banks are set up? some of you this institution as a secret society. guest: hardly. it is a lot more transparent than it used to be. in the history of central

chairman, ben bernanke, and so but before this hostility turned on the federal reserve when alan greenspan was heading up the federal reserve, there seemed to be admiration or reverence for what mrsay. how can this institution be both re-aired by some people and have disdain from others? >> guest: that is easy. when times are good and things are going well, people like them. when times are bad, as they have been, people say look why is the public angry about what the federal reserve is doing? they don't like the bailouts. they don't like the fact that they are dancing money for example to the general motors acceptance corporation called g. they don't like the idea we with man's money to general motors and chrysler. they don't like the idea that they spend hundreds of billions of dollars to aig and a say, why are they giving all this money to the bankers and the people that made the problem and nothing to us? >> host: professor there seems to be distrust of the federal reserve so can you explain how the board is set up, who serves on the board and how these regional banks are set up? some dew this institution has the secret society. >> guest: hardly. it is a lot more transparent

ben bernanke. but before this hostility turned on the federal reserve, when alan greenspan was heading up the federal reserve, there seemed to be admiration or reverence for what mrgreenspan would say. how can this institution be both revered by some people and have distain for mothers? guest: that is easy. when times are good and things are going well, they were great and people like them. when times are bad, as i have been, people say, look, why is the public angry about the puppet of reserve is doing -- they don't like the bailout. they don't like the fact that they are advancing number, the example, ford general motors acceptance corp., they did not like that we advance money to general motors and chrysler and hundreds of billion dollars to aig. they say, why of giving all this money to the bankers and the people who made the problem and nothing to us? host: professor, there seems to be distrust of the federal reserve. can you explain how the board is set up, who serves on the board and how the regional banks are set up? some of you this institution as a secret society. guest: hardly. it is a lot more transparent than it used to be. in the history of central

mr. speaker. i rise today in the hopes of appealing to the common sense of my colleagues in the united states senate. in a few days, they will vote on whether or not ben bernankeerve a secretary term as federal reserve chairman. for the good of american taxpayers and the greater economy, his nomination should be rejected. as chairman of the federal reserve, he has intervened in the financial market in an unprecedented way. he has instituted un-american policies that have deported our free market economy such as picking winners and losers and the creation of too big to fail. both republicans and democrats alike have argued that the fed itself was a significant factor in creating the worst economic and financial crisis our nation has faced in a generation. where is the justification in reconfirming ben bernanke? interest rates were kept too low for too long as they increased the money supply and economic bubbles were created. in 2006, financial experts throughout the nation pointed out that the housing bubble was collapsing. yet, the fed took no action until it was too late and tens of thousands of families found themselves in foreclosure. another major factor i

ben bernanke. his support mounted today as the white house appeared to stanch opposition. harry reid expects a vote by the end of the week. david axelrod, a top adviser to president obama, says mr bernanke has the votes to keep his job. the senate is in session today and will continue debating raising the national debt limit. senators but tomorrow on recommending ways to cut the debt and the deficit. the house of meets tomorrow to consider a bill to provide emergency aid to u.s. survivors of the earthquake in haiti. tonight, national association of broadcasters president gordon smith will talk about efforts by the fcc for more broadband spectrum. wednesday, president obama delivers his first state of the union address, clean out his future for the country and plans to deal with unemployment, health care, and the wars. our coverage begins at 8:00 p.m. eastern. you can also listen live on your iphone with the c-span radio app. >> at his monthly news conference in london, british prime minister gordon brown entered several questions considering afghanistan. that included relief to forces and the conference that will take place on wednesday. he announced his instituting a new progr

ben bernanke, assured the bankers and businessmen gathered at the westin hotel that their prosperity was not threatened by the plight of borrowers struggling to repay high-cost subprime loans and i quote from mr. bernanke. he said to the audience. "importantly, we see no serious broad spill overto banks or thrift institutions from the problems in the subprime market. the troubled lenders for the most part have not been institutions with federally insured deposits." end of quote. the article goes on to note "the fed's failure to see the crisis happened in part because it did not understand the risks that banks were taking. ing according to documents and interviews with bank executives and regulatory experts." that's one example. the second example is that bernanke had reached the conclusion that essentially the financial system would self-regulate. he said -- and i read the article now -- "bernanke said the country entered an era of smaller and frequent downturns which he and others called the great moderation." it notes -- and i make this as a third point from this article -- "the fed let citigroup make vast investments without having to cover losses." the article goes on to explain the story