Sen. Sanders Puts Hold on Bernanke Nomination

Saying that Ben Bernanke is too tied to the roots of the current financial crisis and too beholden the institutions that helped cause it, Sen. Bernie Sanders put a hold on the nomination process for a second term for the Federal Reserve chief. The Vermont independent’s move—not much of a surprise given his earlier opposition—could force Bernanke supporters to round up 60 votes to bring the nomination to the floor, rather than bring it to a vote via unanimous consent.

“The American people want a new direction on Wall Street and at the Fed,” Sanders said in a statement of Bernanke, nominated by President George W. Bush and re-nominated by President Obama. “It’s time for him to go.”
(More Ben Bernanke stories.)