WASHINGTON- The US Senate approved here Thursday the nomination of Ben Bernanke to run as Federal Reserve chairman for another four years.
The Senate Banking Committee panel voted 16-7 to send Bernanke's nomination to the full Senate for confirmation.
Bernanke has been under sharp criticism from some Republicans and Democrats over financial excesses and support of government bailouts of big financial institutions, where many senators are working hard to deny him a second term as chief of the nation's central bank.
Bernanke, 56, whose term ends on January 31, was named by Time magazine as "person of the year" for 2009.
The magazine reported that the main reason Bernanke has been chosen Person of the Year for 2009 is that he is the "most important player guiding the world's most important economy." "His creative leadership helped ensure that 2009 was a period of weak recovery rather than catastrophic depression, and he still wields unrivaled power over our money, our jobs, our savings and our national future," it said.
It added that "decisions he has made, and those he has yet to make, will shape the path of our prosperity, the direction of our politics and our relationship to the world".