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Senate Committee on Finance to appoint Janet Yellen as Treasury Secretary before 20th January

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Jennie Miller

On Wednesday, the Chairman US Senate Committee on Finance Chuck Grassley said the panel would consider President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee for treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, next week ahead of Inauguration Day. Grassley said the hearing for Yellen will take place on Tuesday, 19th January. So, Yellen needs a simple 51-vote majority in the Senate to be confirmed. Point to be noted that she was confirmed in 2014 as chair of the Federal Reserve. She received 26 votes from senators and 19 of them are still in the upper chamber of US Congress. There were 18 senators not voting and 12 of them are still sitting senators, and only 3 lawmakers crossed party lines to vote in favor of her nomination, including Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Richard Burr of North Carolina.

Yellen has a long history of serving under Democratic administrations. She became the first woman to head the Central Bank after she was appointed by former President Barack Obama. Yellen was appointed to help guide the US economy following the 2008 financial crisis. She also previously served as the head of the Council of Economic Advisors under former President Bill Clinton. Yellen earned a Ph.D. in economics from Yale University in 1971 before rising through the ranks of academia. She also served as president of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank beginning in 2004 through 2010. Yellen was appointed as vice-chair of the Fed’s board of governors in Washington in 2010. Biden transition team is pressing the US Senate to move ahead with confirmation for Biden’s nominees before Inauguration Day.

Last week, President-elect Joe Biden said, “They should be confirmed as close to Jan. 20 as possible. There should be no vacancies at State, Defense, and Treasury and Homeland Security”. It is noteworthy that the Biden team is making a heavy push for nominee Anthony Blinken as secretary of state, nominee Alejandro Mayorkas as homeland security secretary, nominee Avril Haines as director of national intelligence, and nominee retired Gen. Lloyd Austin as defense secretary. A spokesman for Biden transition team Andrew Bates said, “Regardless of any developments, with our national security at stake, the pandemic costing thousands of lives every day, and our economy in a historic recession, there is absolutely no justification for Republicans to jeopardize the ability of the United States government to keep the American people safe, distribute vaccines, and put Americans back to work”.

 
 
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Jennie Miller
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