Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

(Watch Bingaman's floor speech online.)

Mr. PRESIDENT, there can be no downplaying the severity of the economic downturn that began in 2007. To date, our nation has lost 7.2 million jobs. In my home state of New Mexico, unemployment now stands at 7.8% – more than twice the rate of two years ago, and yet considerably lower than the rate in a majority of states. American households have lost $12.6 trillion in wealth; more than five million families have seen their homes foreclosed; and hundreds of thousands of small businesses, farms, and ranches have been forced to shut. In short, millions of American families have been – and are – experiencing severe economic pain and dislocation. And while indicators suggest the recession has officially ended, we are hardly out of the woods and it will be years before our economy fully recovers.

In the face of such pain, it is tempting to cast a vote showing disapproval of our economic downturn. And it is tempting – particularly in this political climate – to want an individual to take the fall. I rise today to urge my colleagues not to use Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's renomination for any such exercise – and to offer my strong support for his reconfirmation.

It is true that with the benefit of hindsight, it seems that the Fed could have done more to prevent the economic downturn. In particular, Chairman Bernanke was at the Fed's helm as the asset bubble expanded, and he failed in preventing that bubble from bursting. Others point to financial institution bailouts, arguing that Bernanke's Fed should not have provided financial support or guarantees to vulnerable financial institutions, or that its support should have been structured differently.

Click on the image above to watch Bingaman's floor speech.

But hindsight also tells us that without Chairman Bernanke's bold and aggressive actions, the outcome would have been considerably worse. I can imagine no Fed Chairman since the Great Depression has faced such a Herculean task of preventing the economy from falling over a cliff. And if ever there were praise for averting a disaster, Chairman Bernanke deserves it – for working effectively with other domestic and foreign agencies to ensure continuity of our global banking system; for taking significant steps to boost banks' access to funding; and for establishing targeted lending programs to restart the flow of credit in critical markets.

It is because of this skillfulness and aptitude that Chairman Bernanke enjoys strong support from President Obama, who says that the Chairman's "'bold, persistent experimentation' has brought our economy back from the brink." Similarly, in nominating Chairman Bernanke to a first term, President George W. Bush praised Bernanke's "reputation for intellectual rigor and integrity" and "deep respect in the global financial community." It would be shortsighted for Congress to second-guess the judgment of our current and former President, and it would be irresponsible for colleagues to do so if their sole reason were to score political points.

President Obama's call to give Chairman Bernanke another term is echoed by some of our nation's most distinguished economic thinkers. Former Fed Chairmen Alan Greenspan and Paul Volcker both say that it would be irresponsible not to extend Chairman Bernanke's term. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, the former CBO Director who was Senator McCain's chief economic adviser in the 2008 presidential race, says that "it would be a disaster not to confirm" Bernanke. Warren Buffett said that if he could vote for Mr. Bernanke's confirmation, he would – twice. As Mr. Buffett explained: "We talked about [the economic downturn] being an economic Pearl Harbor, and he did what should have been done in response to that Pearl Harbor."

These economic thinkers know that emerging from our nation's deepest and most protracted economic downturn since the Great Depression will require continuity. Even if the economy has begun to turn around, a complete recovery will require that families, businesses, and investors see consistent policy actions. Central to that consistency is leadership at the helm of the Federal Reserve. If we were to change Fed chairmen now, we would cast considerable uncertainty on our already fragile business and financial markets. That would almost certainly trigger a selloff of equities and dollars – dangerously jeopardizing our recovery.

Finally, while I rise to support Chairman Bernanke's re-conformation, I also renew my call – which I have repeated on the Senate floor over the past year – for policymakers to make job creation the centerpiece of our economic recovery agenda. If he is re-confirmed, Chairman Bernanke must share in that priority. And we in the Congress must also press forward with the urgent task of reforming our financial regulatory infrastructure, whose cracks and holes have been exposed by the recession.

Mr. PRESIDENT, our nation faces considerable and urgent challenges – challenges that render essential the confirmation of Ben Bernanke to another term as Chairman of the Federal Reserve. I yield the floor.