Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will be facing a somewhat hostile audience when he heads to the Hill for his 10 a.m. confirmation hearing with the Senate Banking Committee. While Bernanke is almost certain to keep his job, lingering anger over the economic crisis and serious disagreements over the proper role of the Fed could make for a contentious hearing. . I think he ll be put through the wringer, says Maya MacGuineas, the president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

That s quite a turnaround from the last time Bernanke faced confirmation, in 2005, when he was appointed by President Bush and sailed through easily. Senator Chris Dodd, the chair of the Banking Committee, has already indicated in a statement his intention to question Bernanke on the Fed s failure to protect consumers leading up to the subprime mortgage crisis. What s more, there is legislation underway in Congress that would shift some of the Fed s power to regulate consumer financial products to a proposed new Consumer Financial Protection Agency.

Losing that power over consumer products ultimately won t matter as much to the Fed as another proposed regulatory reform one that would give Congress increased authority to audit and oversee the central bank s actions, says Robert Brusca, the chief economist of Fact & Opinion Economics. The Fed doesn t need to be overseen by those kinds of political beasts, Brusca says.

The real issue is a trade-off between accountability and the ability to make tough, unpopular decisions, says MacGuineas. Raising interest rates before the job market has fully recovered, for example, would be more difficult for a more-politicized Fed, she says. What s more, weakening the Fed s independence could undermine markets faith in the central bank s ability to fight inflation and it s the Fed s record fighting inflation over the last thirty years that has kept inflation expectations low today.

While the outcome of Bernanke s confirmation hearing isn t in doubt, he could still see substantive changes made to the institution he s been appointed to lead and Fed-watchers may get to hear his thoughts on those potential changes later today.

This article is an excerpt from our Early Bird markets story, which was originally published the morning of Dec. 3.