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WASHINGTON – The US Senate Finance Committee unanimously approved Janet Yellen’s appointment as the first female Treasury secretary, indicating that she will easily win full Senate approval, but Republicans have asked her to work with them. in the development of economic policies.
The Senate will vote on Yellen’s nomination on Monday, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said in the Senate plenary on Friday, which would allow her to work promptly on President Joe Biden’s economic agenda.
His nomination was approved 26-0 in the evenly divided committee, with concerns expressed by Republicans about Biden’s ambitious plans for major spending on coronavirus aid, infrastructure investment and tax increases, failing to influence them against the former president from the Federal Reserve.
“I have strong disagreements with Dr. Yellen in several of her positions, especially in the area of tax policy, but she has pledged to work with us,” said Republican Senator Mike Crapo after the vote.
“And I think the strong vote on our side to support it today is an indication that we want to engage.”
The US Senate Finance Committee unanimously approved on Friday the appointment of Janet Yellen as the first female secretary of the Treasury, indicating that she will easily obtain full Senate approval. (AP Photo / Andrew Harnik, Archives)
YELLEN: OFFSHORING TAX PENALTY WOULD INCENTIVIZE US COMPANIES TO ‘CREATE AND MAINTAIN JOBS AT HOME’
Biden proposed a $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan and promised to invest $ 2 trillion in infrastructure, green energy projects, education and research to boost American competitiveness.
At Yellen’s confirmation hearing before the committee on Tuesday, Republicans expressed concerns about the price and rising debt in a return to fiscal conservatism after presenting deficits with the 2017 tax cuts and nearly $ 5 trillion in spending on coronavirus last year under former President Donald Trump.
“I can tell you, I often don’t think you would get a 26-vote vote against anything to agree to buy a soda,” said Democrat Ron Wyden, who will soon become chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. “So this is an indication that it really is an NBA All-Star when it comes to Senate confirmation.”
A full confirmation vote a few days after Biden took office would quickly put the 74-year-old PhD economist and daughter of a family doctor from Brooklyn, New York, to work in a deep economic crisis triggered by the coronavirus pandemic. She broke a similar gender barrier when she became Fed chairman in 2014, a position she held until 2018.
Yellen’s Republican predecessor, Steven Mnuchin, was not confirmed until three weeks after Trump’s inauguration in 2017 in a party vote.
COMMENTS
Yellen told senators that they must “act big” on the proposed $ 1.9 trillion stimulus package or risk a longer recession and long-term economic scars, job losses and revenue. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images)
Yellen’s confirmation hearing on Tuesday highlighted the concerns of some Republican lawmakers about his role in executing Biden’s economic policies, including a greater burden of federal debt and revoking parts of his signed 2017 tax cuts.
Yellen told senators that they must “act big” on the proposed $ 1.9 trillion stimulus package or risk a longer recession and long-term economic scars, job losses and revenue.
His comments represent a new attitude towards government debt among some economists and policymakers: focus on the interest rate being paid and the returns it will generate, rather than the total amount borrowed. In recent months, Treasury interest spending has fallen from pre-pandemic levels due to lower rates.
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In written responses to senators’ questions, Yellen said he would study raising tax rates for small “onlending” businesses, including individual companies, imposing a new minimum corporate tax and increasing capital gains taxes for the wealthy. It has also endorsed an effective system of carbon pricing and financial regulation to combat the systemic risks of climate change.
With Yellen still waiting for confirmation, the Biden government on Wednesday appointed Andy Baukol, a long-standing international finance officer, acting Treasury secretary. A confirmation hearing for Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo has yet to be scheduled.