Senate may vote on Fed's Bernanke by Friday: Reid

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is pictured at his Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on his nomination to continue as Chairman of the Board of Governors, on Capitol Hill in Washington, December 3, 2009.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate may be able to vote by Thursday or Friday on the nomination of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke for a second term, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on Tuesday.

Reid, speaking on the Senate floor, said the chamber had to first finish legislation on raising the statutory limit on the public debt.

"It is our goal to finish the legislation on the debt limit quickly. Hopefully we can do that and maybe the Bernanke nomination by Thursday or Friday," Reid, a Democrat, said.

Senate Democratic leaders scrambled Tuesday to pull together the 60 votes needed to overcome procedural hurdles and then the 51 votes necessary to confirm Bernanke.

The Fed chairman's term expires on Sunday, and it is unclear whether he could continue to lead the U.S. central bank, at least temporarily, until confirmed by the Senate.

Democrats said they expected Bernanke would win a second term.

"We are confident that we will have the votes when it comes time to confirm Bernanke," a Democratic aide said.

Bernanke's confirmation had seemed assured until an underdog Republican candidate rode a wave of populist sentiment to victory in a special election for the U.S. Senate seat from Massachusetts last week.

Backlash against the government's bailout of big financial companies and resentment against persistent high rates of unemployment has whittled away at support for Bernanke.

While the Fed chairman has been credited with capably steering the U.S. economy through the worst financial storm in decades, he is also under fire for hands-off regulatory and easy-money policies that preceded the meltdown.

(Reporting by Susan Cornwell and Thomas Ferraro; writing by Mark Felsenthal; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)