Janet Yellen, former president of the Federal Reserve, is one step closer to obtaining the appointment of Treasury secretary.
The Senate Finance Committee voted unanimously to approve Yellen’s nomination on Friday morning, setting the stage for a full Senate vote. Republican Senator Chuck Grassley said he expected the Republican Party’s support to be a sign of “bipartisan” support under the new Democratic government.
Republican colleagues said they supported Yellen, despite disagreeing with several of his political positions. The general consensus was that she was exceptionally qualified for the job.
Committee members were waiting for a full Senate vote to confirm Yellen’s nomination on Friday, but as of the time of publication, this has not yet materialized.
If confirmed as Secretary of the Treasury, Yellen would become a key member of President Biden’s cabinet and serve as a key adviser on economic and fiscal policy issues. She would also be the first woman to hold the position.
At his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday, Yellen called for a “big move” in the Covid-19 crisis. She said:
“Economists don’t always agree, but I think there is a consensus now: without further action, we risk a longer and more painful recession now – and long-term scars on the economy later.”
Yellen headed the Federal Reserve between 2014 and 2018, becoming the first woman to do so. Under his leadership, the central bank made its first attempt to normalize monetary policy – an initiative that was later restricted by Jerome Powell.
The cryptocurrency industry has been closely following the Yellen referral process. The former Fed chief gave mixed signals about digital assets. On the one hand, she praised Bitcoin (BTC) and other digital assets as an important innovation in optimizing global transactions. On the other hand, it raised concerns about the role of cryptography in money laundering and illicit financing.
The last days of the Trump administration sparked great anxiety for the cryptocurrency industry after then Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin tried to accelerate new regulations aimed at self-hosted encrypted wallets.
On his first day in office, President Biden put a general freeze on all federal agency regulations, preventing the advance of several Trump-era policies. The proposed regulation for crypto wallet was among them.