US President-elect Joe Biden is preparing to select Janet Yellen as Treasury Secretary and senior government official in charge of the US economy, as he faces an arduous recovery from the shock of the Coronavirus pandemic.
The possible selection of Lillin, 74, would cement her position as one of the top US policymakers of her generation, given her previous role as chair of the Federal Reserve, chairman of the San Francisco Federal Reserve, and chairman of the White House in economic advisers under Bill Clinton.
And she recently pushed Yellen forward Lyle Brainard, Fed Governor, as Biden’s lead choice to lead the Treasury Department with an announcement expected in the coming days, according to people familiar with the matter.
She declined to comment through a spokesperson for the Brookings Institution.
Other contenders for the position include Sarah Plum Raskin, former Deputy Treasury Secretary; Roger Ferguson, CEO of the Teachers and Pension Insurance Association; And Raphael Bostic, chair of the Atlanta Federal Reserve. Biden’s transition team declined to comment.
Assuming the Senate passes it, Yellen will be the first female Treasury secretary in the institution’s 231-year history. She will take over from Stephen Mnuchin, Donald Trump’s Treasury secretary, on the difficult task of rocking the US recovery with billions of dollars in new stimulus called by Biden, while preserving the stability of financial markets.
These efforts are likely to include hard Negotiations with Capitol Hill, given Republican resistance to massive spending increases, and the close relationship with Jay Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve, particularly since Mnuchin recently moved to liquidate many Emergency lending facility In the central bank that has been critical in its response to the crisis.
Biden’s move to choose Mrs. Yellen for the role of the Treasury will bring a steady hand and well-known character to the patron of the US economy, but her nomination also reflects his desire to strike a delicate balance between demands from the moderate and progressive wings of the Democratic Party. Ceremony.
As maneuvers for the top position of the Treasury have intensified in recent weeks, Yellen was considered to be the left of Mrs. Brainard and Mr. Ferguson enough to please the Liberals, but not as advanced as Mrs. Raskin.
Ms. Yellin is a native of New York City with a BA in economics from Brown University and then a PhD from Yale University where she was taught by Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz.
In addition to her work in the White House, she served in many different senior positions in the Federal Reserve before being nominated to head the US Central Bank by then President Barack Obama in late 2013, and assuming that position in early 2014.
Yellen led the Fed through a tightening cycle as the central bank tried to normalize its monetary policy in the final stages of recovery from the financial crisis.
It was considered among the most pessimistic monetary policymakers, but watched interest rate hikes were later judged as excessive hawks by the US central bank, which found that unemployment could drop to much lower levels before triggering inflation.
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