Senate panel to mull Bernanke's nomination to second term on Dec. 3

President Barack Obama nominated Bernanke to another four-year term in August. The nomination requires Senate approval.

Bernanke has drawn both praise and criticism for his creative thinking and unconventional actions to pull the country back from economic ruin last year.

His decision to bail out insurance giant American International Group Inc. was especially controversial. Many fear that and other rescues will encourage companies to make reckless gambles because the government will clean up their messes. AIG has received a bailout valued at more than $180 billion, putting taxpayers at risk.

Bernanke's activist response to the financial crisis has opened the Fed to political fallout. Some lawmakers think the central bank overstepped its bounds — by helping some companies and not others — and by creating some emergency lending programs for banks to tap.

Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, said Bernanke's nomination hearing will occur on Dec. 3.