Descripción de US Federal Reserve Chairman Grilled:

The U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman has gone before a Senate Banking Committee review board. He faces a tough line of questions about the financial crisis as he bids for a second term. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke went before the Senate Banking Committee to make his case for a second term. He's telling Congress the Fed's forceful actions prevented a devastating financial crisis from becoming even worse. [Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve Chairman]: "The Federal Reserve's actions have contributed substantially to the significant improvement in financial conditions and to what now appear to be the beginnings of a turnaround in both the U.S. and foreign economies." Bernanke's first four-year term at the helm of the central bank expires next month. He faces unusually blunt talk from lawmakers critical of the Fed's actions during the crisis. Senator Jim Bunning is a Republican from Kentucky. [Senator Jim Bunning, Republican from Kentucky]: "You put the printing presses into overdrive to fund the government spending and hand out cheap money to your masters on Wall Street, which they used to rake in record profits while ordinary Americans and small businesses can't even get loans for their everyday needs." But in a forceful defense of the Fed's efforts during the crisis -many of them unprecedented - Bernanke said authorities prevented a calamity. [Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve Chairman]: "As serious as the effects of the crisis have been, however, the outcome could have been markedly worse without the strong actions taken by the Congress, the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and other authorities both here and abroad." He also said the economy appears to be on the mend. [Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve Chairman]: "Today, most indicators suggest that financial markets are stabilizing and that the economy is emerging from the recession. Yet our task is far from complete. Far too many Americans are without jobs, and unemployment could remain high for some time even if, as we anticipate, moderate economic growth continues." Going forward, Bernanke says the Fed would be a tougher and more proactive regulator. Despite the tough questioning, a second term for Bernanke does not appear in doubt.