Trailblazer Janet Yellen Gets Senate Committee Nod For Treasury Secretary

The Senate Finance Committee voted 26-0 in favor of Janet Yellen’s appointment as the 78th secretary of the Treasury, with an anticipated move to the Senate floor for confirmation before the end of day on Friday (Jan. 22), CNBC reported.

The confirmation would make Yellen the first woman to hold the position. She also was the first female to chair the Federal Reserve under former President Obama, and was the first female to head the Council of Economic Advisers under former President Bill Clinton.

“We are proud that we have now the first woman to be Treasury secretary of the United States,” Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash, told CNBC. “I really hope that she can lead a new day at Treasury to focus on Main Street issues of the workforce, workforce training, and the important aspects of the American economy and getting people back to work.”

If confirmed, Yellen will collaborate with Congress to help make President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus rescue package plan — or as much of the spending plan as possible — a reality. Biden is already meeting resistance from Republicans over the plan’s price tag.

The Treasury secretary is the principal economic advisor to the president and the cabinet, and also supervises the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The Treasury chief also oversees the printing of money, tax collection and bill payments, and negotiates global trade policy.

“The pandemic has caused widespread devastation,” Yellen told the committee earlier this week at her nomination hearing, Politico reported. “Whole industries have paused their work. Eighteen million unemployment insurance claims are being paid every week. Foodbank shelves are going empty. The damage has been sweeping … our response must be, too.”

Aside from the economic issues surrounding the deadly pandemic, the Treasury head will also have to tackle the $350 billion in Trump tariffs on Chinese goods, as well as tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

Yellen told the senators that China’s unfair trade practices would be tackled, but she didn’t endorse the tariffs left over by the Trump administration, Politico reported. 

It’s anticipated that as Treasury chief, Yellen would be tough on cryptocurrency and other electronic currency. She has said that blockchain’s anonymity attracts fraudsters and hackers.