Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley Will Vote 'No' on Bernanke's Renomination

This is some very big news from the Senate Banking Committee, which will be voting on Ben Bernanke's renomination tomorrow at 9:30am ET:

WASHINGTON, DC - Oregon's Senator Jeff Merkley, a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Development, issued the following statement on his intention to vote against Ben Bernanke's nomination to a second term as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System:

"Tomorrow, I will vote against confirming Ben Bernanke as Chairman of the Federal Reserve.  The reason, in short, is that as Chairman, Dr. Bernanke failed to recognize or remedy the factors that paved the road to this dark and difficult recession.  Following our economic collapse, it is also apparent that he has not changed his overall approach to prioritizing Wall Street over American families.

"My decision is based on my fundamental belief that our economy cannot recover if we do not put Main Street first."

This is excellent news from Merkley - a genuinely courageous stand against the Washington establishment that is asking us with a straight face to thank the man who helped create the conditions for the recession and then gave trillions of taxpayer dollars to Wall Street. And Merkley's announcement is proof positive that the progressive campaign to stop Bernanke's renomination (which OpenLeft has been a part of) is working. And with a new national poll out showing that Bernanke is wildly unpopular among the American public, there's a very real chance his nomination will be voted down in the committee tomorrow.

Check the committee membership here - and call your senators and tell them to vote down Bernanke tomorrow. Reappointing the guy who admits he fell down on the job in the lead-up to the economic meltdown will create a moral hazard that says to every other federal regulator that there is no consequences for failure.