Embattled Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke is expected to narrowly win confirmation for a second term. The Senate vote is expected as early as Thursday.
Hotline OnCall’s whip count on Bernanke’s confirmation reports only Idaho GOP Sen. Mike Crapo has formally announced his opposition. While others have signaled their support: Max Baucus (D-MT), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Robert Bennett (R-UT), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Jon Tester (D-MT) and Mark Udall (D-CO). The region’s remaining Senators have not yet made their perspective known.
While Bernanke hangs on by his fingertips to lead the nation’s central bank, a controversial — though bipartisan — bill to audit the Fed moves forward. Treasury Sec. Timothy Geithner is expected to be grilled today by members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform over the secrecy of the Bush Administration’s Sept. 2008 bank bailout which is re-igniting calls to examine backroom deals during the financial crisis.
Co-sponsors of Texas Rep. Ron Paul’s bill include familiar names to Rocky Mountain West voters: Republicans Rob Bishop (UT-01), Jason Chaffetz (UT-03), Mike Coffman (CO-06), Doug Lamborn (CO-05), Cynthia Lummis (WY-ALL), Dennis Rehberg (MT-ALL), Michael Simpson (ID-02), and Democrats: Martin Heinrich (NM-01), Ben Luján (NM-03), Betsy Markey (CO-04), Walter Minnick (ID-01), Ed Perlmutter (CO-07), Jared Polis (CO-02), John Salazar (CO-03), Harry Teague (NM-02).
This American News Project video report on the Federal Reserve explores “one of the most powerful and secretive institutions in Washington, long considered beyond the reach of lawmakers. But now, as details emerge of how the Fed secretly doled out more than a trillion dollars during the financial crisis, a rare bipartisan movement in Congress demands that the Fed be held accountable.”
UPDATE 1/28/10: Idaho Republican Jim Risch told StarkReports.com about how he was leaning on the Bernanke confirmation, “You’ll see at 3:20 when I vote.” The only remaining undecided vote among the Rocky Mountain caucus is New Mexico’s Tom Udall.
UPDATE 1/27/10: After the publication of this story, Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO) issued a statement Wednesday morning affirming his support of Bernanke. We’ll update the original Hotline whip count list above by indicating the remaining Western senators’ vote intentions in italics.
