US president-elect Joe Biden on Monday said that he is to nominate former US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen to lead the US Department of the Treasury, topping a slate of economic officials who would break ethnic and gender barriers in the US government.
If the nominations win US Senate approval, Yellen would be the first female US secretary of the treasury, and would be joined in the executive branch by the first African American to serve as her deputy and as head of the White House economic council, as well as the first South Asian in a key budget role.
“We face great challenges as a country right now. To recover, we must restore the American dream — a society where each person can rise to their potential and dream even bigger for their children,” Yellen wrote on Twitter following the announcement. “As Treasury Secretary, I will work every day towards rebuilding that dream for all.”
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Top of the agenda for the 74-year-old, who previously made history as the first female Federal Reserve chair from 2014 to 2018, is helping the US economy recover from the sharp downturn in growth and mass layoffs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Unless lawmakers are able to overcome their differences in the closing weeks of the year, she is likely to be tasked with convincing Democrats and Republicans in the US Congress to pass another spending bill to power the recovery amid a months-long deadlock on new economic aid.
A study released last week by The Century Foundation think tank said that 12 million Americans would be receiving aid from US government programs that are due to expire at the end of this year.
“As we get to work to control the virus, this is the team that will deliver immediate economic relief for the American people during this economic crisis and help us build our economy back better than ever,” Biden said in a statement.
Biden has pushed ahead with naming his team despite US President Donald Trump’s continuing refusal to concede defeat and his unfounded claims of voter fraud that have been repeatedly rejected by the courts.
However, reality is closing in on Trump after two more key states — Wisconsin and Arizona — on Monday certified their election results showing that Biden won.
The Electoral College is all but certain to formalize Biden’s victory when it meets on Dec. 14.
US Senator Chuck Grassley, the Republican who chairs the Senate Finance Committee that would hold Yellen’s confirmation hearing should the party maintain its control of the chamber following two elections in Georgia next month, told reporters that she would likely get a “favorable view.”
Many of the others tapped for Biden’s economic team are veterans of former US president Barack Obama’s administration.
Nigerian-born Wally Adeyemo, a former deputy national security adviser and president of the nonprofit Obama Foundation, is to be nominated as US deputy secretary of the treasury. He would be the first African American in that role.
Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress think tank, is to be nominated to head the US office of management and budget. If confirmed, she would be its first South Asian leader.
However, Tanden faces criticism from conservatives and progressives alike that could jeopardize her chances of confirmation by the US Senate.
Princeton School of Public and International Affairs dean Cecilia Rouse is to be nominated to chair the US council of economic advisers. She would be the first African American in that post.
Jared Bernstein, who previously advised Biden when he was US vice president, is to join the council, as is Washington Center for Equitable Growth president Heather Boushey.
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