The U.S. Senate confirmed Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke to a second four-year term on Thursday, but not before lawmakers from both parties skewered him for his performance as a steward of the economy and the banking system.

The 70-30 vote came amid growing criticism of the Federal Reserve for secrecy and controversial decisions made during the $182 billion rescue of troubled insurance giant American International Group.

Ahead of the vote, Bernanke agreed to an unprecedented audit of the Fed's handling of AIG matters by the Government Accountability Office, the watchdog arm of Congress. That's only one of a number of challenges he faces in his second term directing the nation's central bank.

To his supporters, the quiet, professorial Fed chairman, a former Princeton economist, saved the global financial system from ruin over the past two years. His detractors called him complicit in the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

"Bernanke fiddled while our markets burned," Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the Senate Banking Committee's top Republican, said before his "no" vote.

Complaints were bipartisan.

"The American people have the right to ask whether the Fed is truly committed to supporting Main Street's economy, not just Wall Street," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. "And that is why I cannot support his reappointment."

. . . . . . . continued full story with The Tribune at the San Luis Obispo