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Joe Biden selects Janet Yellen as his choice for Treasury secretary

WION Web Team
Washington, United StatesUpdated: Nov 30, 2020, 08:53 PM IST
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(File photo) US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen Photograph:(Twitter)

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In Yellen, Biden will have a battle-tested policymaker who can draw on her nearly two decades at the Fed to help rebuild an economy in dire need of government cash and confidence

US President-elect Joe Biden on Monday selected former Federal Reserve chair, Janet Yellen, as his choice for Treasury secretary.

Biden's transition team said in a statement "Janet Yellen is nominated to serve as Secretary of the Treasury. If confirmed, she will be the first woman to lead the Treasury Department in its 231-year history."

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In Yellen, Biden will have a battle-tested policymaker who can draw on her nearly two decades at the Fed to help rebuild an economy in dire need of government cash and confidence. Biden has called for trillions of dollars in new stimulus to aid the small and mid-size businesses that are the nation’s jobs engine.

Yellen’s expected to champion what she’s called “extraordinary fiscal support” to support the pandemic-ridden economy, deficit spending that she says is affordable given extraordinarily low-interest rates.

The Democrat's picks include Wally Adeyemo as deputy treasury secretary, Neera Tanden as director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Cecilia Rouse to lead the Council of Economic Advisers, the transition team said.

Biden, a Democrat, also plans to pick Wally Adeyemo, a senior international economic adviser during the Obama administration, to serve as Janet Yellen's top deputy at the Treasury Department, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Economists Jared Bernstein and Heather Boushey will be nominated to serve as members of the Council of Economic Advisers, the report added.

Before taking the reins at the Center for American Progress, a center-left think tank, Tanden was a healthcare adviser in former President Barack Obama's administration. She was also an adviser for Democrat Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.

Rouse, a labour economist at Princeton University, whose research has focused on the economics of education, previously served as a member of Obama's Council of Economic Advisers.

Adeyemo was a senior White House national security adviser for international economics during the Obama administration, as well as a top aide to former Treasury Secretary Jack Lew. He is currently president of the Obama Foundation

Bernstein, one of Biden's closest aides, served as his chief economic adviser as Biden, then the vice president, and Obama fought to pull the United States out of the Great Recession.

He was tasked with calculating and explaining how many jobs the Obama administration's hard-fought recovery act saved in 2009, and was widely expected to have a similarly prominent role in a Biden administration,

Boushey is known for research focusing on how inequality can hinder economic growth. The chief executive and co-founder of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, a progressive economic think tank, Boushey has been working with the Biden team as an unofficial economic adviser.

Just like Obama did in 2009, Biden will inherit a struggling economy facing serious near-term challenges.

Nearly 14 million Americans, many of who used to be employed in the restaurant and hospitality industries, are receiving unemployment benefits that expire on December 26, and the coronavirus' continued surge means there is no telling when they might be able to go back to work.

Biden's economic agenda is likely to focus on getting the country past the coronavirus crisis, both as a health and economic issue. A lot will depend on the passage of a pandemic relief package and the distribution of a vaccine that is expected in early 2021.