By a 70-30 vote, the Senate confirmed embattled Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke for a second term Wednesday afternoon.

The vote followed a 77-23 cloture vote to end debate on Bernanke’s confirmation.

Bernanke has received praise for preventing the economic crisis from becoming even worse than it might otherwise have been, as well as criticism for failing to stop it from happening in the first place.

Speaking on the Senate floor after the vote, Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) said she voted against Bernanke because he did not feel the same sense of “urgency” to help Main Street as Wall Street and called on the Fed, Treasury and President Obama to provide capital to small businesses and community banks, as well as increased “transparency and predictability” to prevent another bubble from forming.

The Fed decided today to hold interest rates steady at 0 to 0.25 percent, citing signs of economic recovery, but stating it expects to hold interest rates low for “an extended period.”

Senators voting against confirming Bernanke were: Begich (D-Ak.), Boxer (D-Calif.), Burning (R-Ky.), Brownback (R-Kan.), Cantwell (D-Wash.), Cornyn (R-Texas), Crapo (R-Idaho), DeMint (R-S.C.), Dorgan (D-N.D.), Ensign (R-Nev.), Feingold (D-Wis.), Franken (D-Minn.), Grassley (R-Iowa), Harkin (D-Iowa), Hutchison (R-Texas), Inhofe (R-Okla.), Kaufman (D-Del.), LeMeiux (R-Fla.), McCain (R-Ariz.), Merkley (D-Ore.), Risch (R-Idaho), Roberts (R-Kan.), Sanders (I-Vt.), Sessions (R-Ala.), Shelby (R-Ala.), Specter (D-Pa.), Thune (R-S.D.), Vitter (R-La.), Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Wicker (R-Miss.)

["Ben Bernanke Dollar" photo by Gage Skidmore; CC BY-SA 2.0]