Toward the end of last week, I had a chance to speak with Senators Casey and Durbin, both of whom voted to re-confirm Bernanke for another four year term.

Durbin told me that when he spoke with the Fed Chair, Bernanke “did not tell me that he favored one over the other. I certainly would have taken note of that.” He also said that Bernanke told him the Fed is committed to transparency, up to the point of policy review. When it comes to policy, Durbin agreed with the Bernanke that the Fred needs to remain independent and insulated from politics.

Regarding consumer protection, Durbin told me that Bernanke claims that in recent years the Fed has had over 200 employees hard at work implementing consumer protections. Durbin said Bernanke would be better served if those efforts were better publicized.

The conversation with Senator Casey was a little more substantive. I got it started by asking that given 1) Bernanke’s said that he’s more concerned about being an inflation hawk than achieving maximum employment; 2) Bernanke has refused to weigh in regarding the wisdom of tax increases as a means of balancing the budget, saying it was a political decision… but… he was willing to say that entitlement programs are the logical place to look if we want to balance the nation’s books; and 3) he was a member of George Bush’s Council of Economic Advisors, manned the helm as the nation’s economy and financial system tip-toed along the edge of economic disaster… Why was Senator Casey still voting for him?

After Casey told me he’s voting for Bernanke, at least in part because he’s concerned about market reaction, our conversation turned toward transparency and accountability. In short, I wanted to know why we weren’t thinking about delaying the confirmation until some of the questions that Bernanke has worked so hard to avoid answering were resolved. Why not wait until the conclusion of an audit? Why not find out why Bernanke overruled his Board to bail out AIG? After all, if the Senate goes ahead and confirms an incompetent on the basis of inadequate information (and, one would imagine, largely self-serving information since Bernanke decided what to release and what to keep secret), the markets would be in a worse place tomorrow than they are today.