Yellen brings history of policymaking, bipartisan support to Treasury

Former Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen is set to become US Treasury Secretary under appointment by president-elect Joe Biden, according to reports.

Fox reported a short time ago that anet Yellen leapfrogged Lael Brainard, Roger Ferguson to likely run Biden's Treasury Department.

Economic policy experts say Yellen will have her work cut out for her: The Covid-19 pandemic has sent the United States plunging into the fastest and steepest economic downturn since the Great Depression, and surging case numbers are prompting renewed shutdowns, foreshadowing more economic pain ahead. Obama originally appointed Yellen to the Fed in 2014, where she remained until early 2018.

Now a distinguished fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, Yellen has signaled her support for more spending. "I believe it's essential".

Biden, who served as vice president under Obama and defeated Trump in the November 3 election, has been moving quickly to fill key slots in his incoming cabinet.

After taking office in 2017, Trump ousted Yellen from the Fed, making her one of the few chairs not to stay in office for a second term.

Prior to her tenure as the Federal Reserve chair, Yellen served as the institution's vice-chair and the chair of former President Bill Clinton's economic advisory council. And Republicans, who may control the Senate in January, have previously backed Yellen, including in her nomination to Fed Chair.

When she succeeded him four years later, Forbes magazine dubbed her the second most-powerful woman in the world, behind German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Her Fed nomination was approved with bipartisan backing, and she is widely viewed now as a choice that is acceptable to lawmakers of both parties.