No surprise here. Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke gets Senate approval for a 2nd term. Now onto the Senate floor where there are 5 holds on his confirmation. The vote was 16 to 7, with 12 Democrats and 4 Republicans voting for Bernanke. 6 Republicans and 1 Democrat, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, opposed. Here is the Senate Banking Committee membership vote, tallied in real time (and so well formatted) by shopyield:

Yes - 16

No - 7

Majority

• Christopher Dodd, Chairman, Connecticut Yes
• Tim Johnson, South Dakota Yes
• Jack Reed, Rhode Island Yes
• Chuck Schumer, New York Yes
• Evan Bayh, Indiana Yes
• Robert Menendez, New Jersey Yes
• Daniel Akaka, Hawaii Yes
• Sherrod Brown, Ohio Yes (soft may change on the floor)
• Jon Tester, Montana Yes
• Mark Warner, Virginia - Yes
• Jeff Merkley, Oregon - No
• Herb Kohl, Wisconsin Yes
• Michael Bennet, Colorado Yes

Minority

• Richard Shelby, Ranking Member, Alabama No
• Bob Bennett, Utah Yes
• Jim Bunning, Kentucky No
• Mike Crapo, Idaho No
• Bob Corker, Tennessee Yes (soft may change on the floor)
• Jim DeMint, South Carolina - No
• David Vitter, Louisiana  - No
• Mike Johanns, Nebraska Yes
• Kay Bailey Hutchison, Texas - No
• Judd Gregg, New Hampshire - Yes

The good news here is maybe Freshman Senator Jeff Merkley is finally getting some backbone. His first vote was for more TARP, even though he ran a strong Populist campaign and specifically against bail outs in 2008.