Bernanke to be confirmed with bipartisan support said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Sunday.

25 Jan 2010

Posted by Pete Davis

This is very good news for the market. Friday's market anxiety level rose considerably when Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Russ Feingold (D-WI) announced they would vote against Ben Bernanke's confirmation. Both face tough reelection races. Previously Democratic Senators Byron Dorgen (D-ND), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) had announced their opposition. Seven Republicans have announced their opposition so far, including John McCain (R-AZ). I've always expected the Senate to confirm Mr. Bernanke by at least 80 votes, and I'm more confident now than ever. A cloture vote of at least 60 votes will still be required, so the Bernanke confirmation vote, requiring just a majority vote, will occur on the second day after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) files the cloture petition, so no earlier than Wednesday and certainly by the end of the week.

Here's the entire Q&A with Senator McConnell from NBC's Meet the Press:

GREGORY: You talk about jobs. Before we get to that, a key issue coming up as I mentioned is Ben Bernanke's re-nomination. Will you vote for him as head of the Fed?

MCCONNELL: He's going to have bipartisan support in the Senate and I would anticipate he'd be confirmed.

GREGORY: Will you vote for him?

MCCONNELL: He's going to have bipartisan support.

GREGORY: But you won't say how you'll vote?

MCCONNELL: I'll let you know in the next day or so.

GREGORY: You have concerns about his re-nomination?

MCCONNELL: I think he's going to be confirmed.

GREGORY: But do you have concerns about his re-nomination?

MCCONNELL: Some of my members do but I think he's going to be confirmed.

On CNN's State of the Union today, Senate Orrin Hatch (R-UT) said he would vote for Bernanke.
His exact words were:

KING: Are you on the same page [supporting Bernanke]?

HATCH: Yes, in all honesty, there are some things I don't agree with that have been done, but I think he basically has -- has all of the ability to do it. I'd be terrified of having him replaced by this administration. You never know what you're going to get.

This man knows what he's doing. Yes, can he improve? You bet your life. But I'm going to vote for him.

Senate Banking Ranking Republican Richard Shelby (R-AL) will vote against Bernanke.
Shelby wrapped up CNN's State of the Union with:

KING: Fourteen newsmakers, analysts and reporters were out on the Sunday morning talk shows today, but only one gets "The Last Word." And that honor today goes to the Republican Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama. He joins us from New York this morning. Senator, you have been a vocal critic of Ben Bernanke, the Fed Chairman. As you know, he is up for a big vote in the Senate this week and the White House is trying to round up the votes. Why do you believe he should not get another term?

SHELBY: I believe if you look at his record objectively, you shouldn't vote for him. I voted against him in the committee. I believe that the Federal Reserve is part and parcel of the whole problem that helped create the problem of loose money and too little regulation. Now they want to ride to the rescue with the taxpayers' money. I believe that that's not a good record for the Fed and that led by Ben Bernanke, I intend to vote against him. I don't know what the vote count will be. But there will be a lot of tough votes against him and that is the strong message against the Fed chairman.

KING: Are you concerned at all about the impact on the markets of having this debate? If you listen to former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, he says Ben Bernanke is the right man for the job. If you listen to Chris Dodd, I know he's a liberal Democrat, you disagree with him, he says he is worried it will send the worst signal to the markets right now, possibly send them into a tailspin. And Warren Buffett, the investor, said this when asked by CNBC if he thought there was a chance Mr. Bernanke would go down in this Senate vote. And he said, "Well, just tell me a day ahead of time so I can sell some stocks."

SHELBY: Well, whatever happens will happen, but I'll tell you, I don't believe any sell-off would last very long because if he goes down, the president would have to and would come up with somebody that would, I believe, would be stronger. Who would that would be, I don't know, would be well-received. Most sell-offs are short lived and then you have a rally, let's not buy into that. Let's buy into the record of Ben Bernanke, it's not a good one.

KING: There a lot of conservatives out there who might applaud your position, but you just said president could send up somebody who might be better. Let's say he sends up somebody like a Larry Summers. Would they be better than Ben Bernanke?

SHELBY: Well, if that happened, we would have to weigh Larry Summers' record. Larry Summers, former secretary of the Treasury, he's tied real close to Barack Obama right now. We would weigh it, it would go before the committee of banking. But that's problematic at this point. But I think there are a lot of very smart people who can run the Fed better than Ben Bernanke.

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