Biden taps Janet Yellen to lead barrier-breaking economic team
WASHINGTON: President-elect Joe Biden announced Monday he will nominate former Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen to lead the Treasury, topping a slate of economic officials who would break racial and gender barriers in the US government.
President-elect Joe Biden on Monday announced key members of his economic team, including Janet Yellen (bottom right), Secretary of the Treasury; Neera Tanden (top left), Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Jared Bernstein (top right) and Heather Boushey, members of the Council of Economic Advisers. – AFP
The rollout of Biden’s economic team comes after running mate Kamala Harris made history as the first woman, first Black person and first person of South Asian descent to win the vice presidency.
If they win Senate approval, Yellen would be the first female Treasury secretary, and would be joined in the executive branch by the first African Americans 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.
Unless lawmakers are able to overcome their differences in the closing weeks of the year, she will likely be tasked with convincing Democrats and Republicans in Congress to pass another spending bill to power the recovery amid a months-long deadlock on new aid. “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 announcing his appointments.
Confirmation in question?
Yellen’s nomination was first reported last week, and Biden and Harris was tol present the nominees at an event later Tuesday. Chuck Grassley, the Republican senator currently leading the Finance Committee that would hold Yellen’s confirmation hearing should the party maintain its current control of the chamber following two January elections in Georgia, told reporters she would likely get a “favorable view.” Many of the others tapped for Biden’s economic team are veterans of former president Barack Obama’s administration.
Nigerian-born Wally Adeyemo, a former deputy national security advisor and current president of the Obama Foundation non-profit, was picked as deputy Treasury secretary. He would be the first African American in that role. Neera Tanden, president of liberal think tank Center for American Progress, was picked to head the Office of Management and Budget. If confirmed, she would be its first South Asian leader. However, Tanden-a former adviser to Hillary Clinton, who lost to Trump in the 2016 presidential election-faces criticism from conservatives and progressives alike that could jeopardize her chances of confirmation by the Senate.
Also named was Cecilia Rouse, the dean of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, tapped to chair the Council of Economic Advisors (CEA), who would be the first African American in that post. Jared Bernstein, who previously advised Biden when he was vice president under Obama, will join the CEA, as will Washington Center for Equitable Growth President Heather Boushey. Yellen would take over as Treasury secretary from Steven Mnuchin, who worked with Congress on passing the $2.2 trillion CARES Act in March that expanded unemployment payments and offered loans and grants to small businesses.