Today, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke went to Capitol Hill to face a confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking committee. Bernanke has been getting knocked around in the last few days, and while a bare majority of the committee seems to support his confirmation, he was still amply criticized during the hearing. Complicating matters, both Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) have placed holds on Bernanke’s nomination, which, while unlikely to derail his confirmation, can slow it down quite a bit.

While the main point of consternation within Congress is the Fed’s lending actions during the economic crisis — which is the drive behind Reps. Ron Paul (R-TX) and Alan Grayson’s (D-FL) effort to audit the Fed — as Matt Yglesias has been pointing out, Bernanke should also have to answer for his “apparent contentedness with a monetary policy that is going to fall far short of the Fed’s legal mandate to maximize employment.”

Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) actually asked Bernanke about unemployment during the hearing, and while Bernanke agreed that joblessness is “the most difficult problem that we face right now” — and conceded that the long-term costs of high unemployment are “severe” — he decided to not advocate more steps on the part of the Fed or to reassure Congress that he wouldn’t act to reel in fiscal expansion:

We have kept interest rates close to zero to try to stimulate growth and we have seen now positive growth in output which will translate into jobs, we’re hoping soon…I discussed earlier some of the steps we’re taking to try to unfreeze credit, including pushing banks to give credit-worthy borrowers access to loans, have banks raise capital, try to restart securitization markets and other steps. So the Fed has a program we’re employing, which is focused on getting jobs created. Now, on your side, on the fiscal side, obviously there are a whole number of different options…Obviously all of these issues will have fiscal consequences and again, Congress will have to make those tradeoffs.

Watch it:

Prior to the hearing Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) said that he wants to hear Bernanke say that the Fed is “willing to take their eyes off an exclusive gaze on the welfare of Wall Street and start giving a red hot damn about the American public.” I’m not sure that Bernanke’s response is very reassuring.

According to the latest economic forecast from Goldman Sachs, unemployment will peak at almost 11 percent in mid-2011, while inflation will remain close to zero at the same time. Therefore, there is no reason for the Fed to not take additional steps to encourage employment, and in fact, the Fed would be violating its legal mandate if it sits on its hands. And if Bernanke really feels that there is nothing more the Fed can do, then he should make sure that Congress knows that.

Minutes from the last Federal Reserve Board meeting show that some Fed leaders are freaking out about inflation, despite all the evidence that unemployment is the far greater problem. Bernanke had the opportunity to ease concerns that the Fed will allow the country to suffer high unemployment in the name of fighting inflation and seems to have let it pass.

Today, the White House is hosting a jobs forum, “to sound out ideas for accelerating job growth during the worst labor market in a generation,” as Democrats in both houses of Congress are attempting to craft jobs legislation. Yesterday, the administration for the first time expressed support for new legislation, so long as it has a “relatively small deficit impact.”

This effort comes in the wake of a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report showing that the economic stimulus package is having its intended effect — creating or saving 600,000 to 1.6 million jobs — albeit in a weaker than anticipated economy.

Republicans, though, have said that additional jobs legislation “would meet resistance.” They’re justifying this position — aided by the conservative media — by claiming that the “failed economic stimulus” has not created jobs, despite the CBO reporting otherwise. Here’s a roundup of conservative statements that have occurred after the CBO released its report:

Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA): The 800-billion dollar stimulus bill that Washington passed has failed to create – or save – the jobs it promised…There is now talk of a second — or is it a third – stimulus bill…More government spending, more bailouts for states, more transfer payments to individuals, expanded government agencies.

RNC Chairman Michael Steele: [Obama's] failed economic stimulus has considerably added to our national debt, skyrocketing it to a record-breaking $1.42 trillion in 2009…This time using a “jobs summit” to distract from the 10.2 percent national unemployment rate as well as President Obama’s and Congressional Democrats’ plans to unleash a second wave of stimulus spending on the American public, known as Stimulus II.

Rep. John Boehner (R-OH): Washington Democrats staked their credibility on a nearly trillion-dollar ‘stimulus’ that was supposed to be about putting people back to work…Given the last 11 months of outrageous ‘stimulus’ claims, the American people are right to wonder whether Washington Democrats can be trusted to create jobs and cut the deficit.

Wall Street Journal Editorial Board: [T]he stimulus has been a manifest bust, much as the critics who appeared on our pages predicted. As the recovery continues, sooner or later the economy will begin to create new jobs, thank heaven. But the stimulus won’t have much do with it, except insofar as the higher taxes to finance the runaway spending further retard private investment and hiring.

For their part, Republicans have organized an economic roundtable for today, chock full of former Bush administration and McCain campaign staffers who, among other things, are responsible for the Bush tax cuts and Medicare Part D. Cantor also released a jobs plan yesterday, which Andrew Leonard characterized as a “magic pony jobs plan.” “Cut regulations. Freeze spending. Cut taxes. No new taxes. That’s the plan,” Leonard wrote.

Cross-posted on ThinkProgress. Read more about confronting the jobs dilemma in today’s Progress Report.