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Janet Yellen: ‘We Must Restore the American Dream’

President-elect Joe Biden on Monday officially nominated former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen as his Treasury Secretary. This is a confirmation of news reported here last week.

Biden-Harris' economics-team announcements, like other transition notifications (which the New York Times is tracking live), feature people who've worked in previous administrations.

The Yellen announcement was one of several economy-related items, reported CNBC.

In a Tweet following the announcement, Yellen wrote: "We face great challenges as a country right now. To recover, we must restore the American dream—a society where each person can rise to their potential and dream even bigger for their children. As Treasury Secretary, I will work every day towards rebuilding that dream for all."

In a prepared statement to the press, Biden said:

"As we get to work to control the virus, this is the team that will deliver immediate economic relief for the American people during this economic crisis and help us build our economy back better than ever,” he said. “They will work tirelessly to ensure every American enjoys a fair return for their work and an equal chance to get ahead, and that our businesses can thrive and outcompete the rest of the world,” he added.

Tweeted VP-elect Kamala Harris, "This is a team of some of our most brilliant economic minds, and proven leaders who reflect the very best of our country. They share a fundamental commitment to ending this economic crisis and putting people back to work while rebuilding our economy to lift up all Americans."

Chairwoman of the House Committee on Financial Services Congresswoman Maxine Waters applauded what she called Biden’s "historic" announcement regarding Yellen's nomination to the U.S. Treasury.

Waters pointed out that as Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Yellen "provided strong, steady leadership and a keen awareness of the challenges that income and wealth inequality pose for the nation ... [she] helped preside over the longest economic expansion in American history, highlighted the problem of racial economic disparities in her testimony before the Committee, and finalized many important rules that made our financial system safer and better prepared for the unexpected onset of the pandemic earlier this year."

Yellen would be the first female to head the Treasury. CNBC added that macroeconomic and national security advisor Wally Adeyemo, (who also previously served as Chief of Staff of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) if confirmed, would be the first Black Deputy Secretary of the Treasury.

Michael Feroli, Chief U.S. Economist at JPMorgan told CNBC that he believes all of the economic-team members named thus far are "experienced and qualified" and that "in most cases they will need little learning curve and can do their jobs from day one.”

About Author: Christina Hughes Babb

Christina Hughes Babb is a reporter for DS News and MReport. A graduate of Southern Methodist University, she has been a reporter, editor, and publisher in the Dallas area for more than 15 years. During her 10 years at Advocate Media/Dallas Magazine, she published thousands of articles covering local politics, real estate, development, crime, the arts, entertainment, and human interest, among other topics. She has won two national Mayborn School of Journalism Ten Spurs awards for nonfiction, and has penned pieces for Texas Monthly, Salon.com, Dallas Observer, Edible, and the Dallas Morning news, among others. Contact Christina at [email protected].
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