The Senate voted 84-15 to confirm Janet Yellen as Treasury secretary on Monday.
Why it matters: Yellen is the first woman to serve as secretary of the Treasury, a Cabinet position that will be crucial in helping to lift the country out of the pandemic-induced economic crisis.
- Yellen was the first woman to chair President Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers and the first woman to chair the Federal Reserve during President Obama.
- Her confirmation as secretary of the Treasury makes her the first person to hold the three positions of economic power in the federal government.
The big picture: Yellen told senators during confirmation hearings that his immediate focus would be to alleviate the pandemic. With her confirmation, she can immediately start negotiating and working with Congress to approve President Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus relief proposal.
- “The damage was enormous and, as the president-elect said last Thursday, our response must also be,” said Yellen last week.
- Yellen also endorsed Biden’s tax reform plan in her statement, but she said the government’s top legislative priority would be economic stimulus, with infrastructure not far behind.
Important quotes from Yellen’s testimony:
- “The focus now is on providing relief and helping families keep a roof over their heads and food on the table, not on raising taxes.”
- “Neither the president-elect nor I propose this relief package without an assessment of the country’s debt burden. But now, with interest rates at historic lows, the smartest thing we can do is act big. “
- “In the coming months, we will need more help to distribute the vaccine, to reopen schools, to help states keep firefighters and teachers working.”
- “Avoiding what we need to do now to tackle the pandemic and the economic damage it is causing would probably leave us worse off economically and in terms of our debt situation than doing what is necessary.”
Go deeper: Janet Yellen minimizes debts and concerns about tax increases at confirmation hearing