Janet Yellen, nominated US President-elect Joe Biden for Treasury Secretary, speaks as Biden announces nominees and nominees to serve on his economic policy team at his transition headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, USA, December 1, 2020.
Leah Millis | Reuters
Janet Yellen’s historic move to head the Treasury Department took an important step on Friday morning, after she easily passed a major Senate vote.
Along with the experience she brings with her, the appointment would make Yellen the first woman to hold the position. Previously, she was the first woman to lead the Federal Reserve.
The Senate Finance Committee on Friday approved President Joe Biden’s proposal to nominate Yellen as secretary of the treasury, sending the nomination 26-0.
“We are proud to now have the first woman to be secretary of the United States Treasury,” said Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. “I really hope she can lead a new day at the Treasury to focus on the main issues of the workforce, on training the workforce and on the important aspects of getting the American economy and people back to work.”
Yellen still faces confirmation from the entire Senate. Indications are that Yellen’s name will be transferred to the Senate floor before business closes on Friday.
The committee’s vote came with little debate or disagreement, similar to its confirmation hearing earlier in the week. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Said Yellen is “actually an NBA All-Star when it comes to clearing the Senate nomination process”.
In fact, Yellen also navigated the process when she was twice appointed to the Fed’s Board of Governors. Yellen was also the first woman to head former President Bill Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers.
Emphasis on bipartisanship
The committee chairman, Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said the acceleration of Yellen’s nomination was part of a Republican effort to tame some of the party grudge that permeated Washington during the term of former President Donald Trump.
“Unfortunately, I cannot say that the same treatment was offered to all nominees from the previous government,” said Grassley. He added that the treatment of Yellen’s nomination “signals an interest of mine and I know all my Republican colleagues in working cooperatively and in a bipartisan way. … We are not interested in cancerous cultural wars that serve only to divide the nation” .
If it got confirmation, it would put it in a critical position to execute the Democratic government’s economic agenda.
The new president is already caught up in a parliamentary dispute over his proposed $ 1.9 trillion spending plan. Approval can take several weeks and Biden is unlikely to get the full price.
Part of Yellen’s job will be to refer the proposal to Congress, where he is likely to encounter substantial resistance.
“I have strong disagreements with Dr. Yellen in several of her positions, particularly in the areas of tax policy,” said Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho. “But she has pledged to work with us on these issues and the concerns we have, and I think the strong vote on our side to support her today is an indication that we want to engage.”