Biden Women: Janet Yellen Confirmed as Treasury Secretary

Janet Yellen at Federal Reserve Meeting via Wiki Commons

By a vote of 84 to 15, the Senate confirmed Janet L. Yellen, making her the first woman to hold the top job at Treasury in its 232-year history. Yellen’s strong showing in America’s deeply divided Senate her reserve of support coming from her prior position as Fed chair from 2014 to 2018.

Secy Yellen’s top priority is helping President Biden prepare the $1.9 trillion stimulus package he has proposed, steering it through Congress by convincing skeptical Senators from both parties and then administering it in its final form.

The New York Times details factors around her confirmation, but one data point prompts an AOC comment. Republican Alaska senator Dan Sullivan voted against Yellen because she refused to commit to being an advocate for “all of the above” energy policy, including natural gas and oil. Ms. Yellen has made combating climate change and creating incentives for clean energy a priority at Treasury.

Repairing America’s economic relations around the world is another key deliverable in Treasury Secy Yellin’s portfolio. Relations with America’s traditional allies suffered significantly in the Trump administration.

Those relationships are key to the Biden administration’s plan to try to combat what Ms. Yellen called China’s “illegal, unfair and abusive” economic practices by marshaling allies to exert pressure on Beijing,” writes the Times.