Q+A: What's next for Bernanke's confirmation to Fed?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is expected to win confirmation to a second four-year term as head of the U.S. central bank but the road to winning the Senate's backing has been bumpy.

Bernanke's first term expires January 31, and a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on Sunday the body could vote on his confirmation this week.

Here are a few questions and answers about hurdles facing his confirmation:

WHAT ARE OBSTACLES TO BERNANKE'S CONFIRMATION?

At least four senators have sought to delay Bernanke's confirmation by placing formal "holds" on the nomination.

After filing for a vote, which Democrats likely won't do until they believe they have secured enough votes to win confirmation, there is a two-day waiting period before the Senate can vote to clear the procedural roadblock.

In this vote, they need to round up at least 60 votes in the 100-member chamber to start debate.

After that, there could be up to 30 hours of further debate before a final confirming vote.

That makes the earliest a vote could occur Wednesday.

In December, the Senate Banking Committee approved Bernanke's nomination on a 16-7 vote, an unusually high level of opposition for a sitting Fed chairman. All but one of the 'no' votes came from Republicans.

However, clearing the hurdle will show there is the needed support for the nomination to be approved.

The high level opposition reflects anger among lawmakers that the Fed failed to anticipate and prevent the financial crisis, and unease over the Bernanke-led Fed's role in massive government bailouts of the financial industry.

While many credit Bernanke, who became a Fed governor in 2002 and Fed chairman in 2006, with preventing the crisis from being worse, some fault him for endorsing a long period of low interest rates in the early 2000s and for playing down risks from the housing bubble.

Democrats' loss of a Senate seat to a Republican in a Massachusetts special election last week erased their 60-vote super-majority, but this should not directly impact Bernanke's prospects for confirmation given Republican support and the likelihood a vote will come before the new senator is seated.

However, the Republican victory in Massachusetts may make some senators facing re-election in November reconsider their support for Bernanke out of fear they may be seen as being too cozy with Wall Street.

WHAT HAPPENS IF BERNANKE ISN'T CONFIRMED BY JAN. 31?

It is unclear whether Bernanke could continue to run the Fed if he is not confirmed before his term as chairman lapses. Since Bernanke would still be serving a separate 14-year term as a member of the Fed board, some believe he could be tapped by the board to serve as acting chairman.

Under law, the Fed's vice chairman leads the central bank in the absence of a chairman, but absence is not defined.

On two previous occasions a chairman has not been confirmed by the time his term ended and has continued to head the Fed.

In both instances, however, the board was without a vice chairman and the chairman was elected by the board to continue to serve in an acting capacity as called for by law. The Fed currently has a vice chairman, Donald Kohn.

Senator Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, has urged the Senate to act fast, saying that if Bernanke is not confirmed before the end of his term, he would cease to be chairman.

If Bernanke's confirmation is delayed or in doubt, it could undermine his ability to defend the institution from a loss of authority or to resist political pressure to raise interest rates in time to prevent inflation.

(Reporting by Mark Felsenthal and Kim Dixon; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)