Senate confirms Janet Yellen as Treasury Secretary as stimulus talks loom

Written by Alan Rappeport
The Senate confirmed Janet Yellen, a labor economist and former Federal Reserve chair, to be Treasury secretary Monday, putting in a key lieutenant to President Joe Biden at a dangerous financial second, as the brand new administration tries to revive an financial system that has been battered by the coronavirus pandemic.
By a vote of 84-15, the Senate confirmed Yellen, making her the primary lady to carry the highest job at Treasury in its 232-year historical past. Her fast bipartisan affirmation underscored the help she has from each Republicans and Democrats given her earlier stint as Fed chair from 2014 to 2018.
Yellen now faces a brand new and appreciable problem. As Treasury secretary, she might be accountable for serving to Biden put together the $1.9 trillion stimulus bundle he has proposed, steer it by way of Congress and — whether it is accepted — oversee the deployment of trillions of {dollars} of aid cash.
The magnitude of the duty turned clear over the weekend, as a bipartisan group of senators met just about with senior White House officers Sunday and expressed doubt that such a big bundle was crucial.
Lawmakers in each events raised the prospect of curbing parts of the proposal, together with the eligibility for a instructed spherical of $1,400 checks to people and guaranteeing {that a} extra focused distribution of further support, in accordance with a number of individuals accustomed to the dialogue. They additionally requested the White House to supply information that will justify the proposed spending, which incorporates $350 billion in state and native support and $130 billion to reopen colleges shuttered by the pandemic.

Now, Yellen might be thrust into the center of the talks, accountable for convincing many Republicans and a few Democrats that the financial system wants one other multitrillion greenback spending bundle. At her affirmation listening to and in written responses to lawmakers, Yellen echoed Biden’s view that Congress should “act big” to forestall the financial system from long-term scarring and defended utilizing borrowed cash to finance one other support bundle, saying not doing so would depart employees and households worse off.

“The relief bill late last year was just a down payment to get us through the next few months,” Yellen mentioned. “We have a long way to go before our economy fully recovers.”