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Updated at 6:15 pm ET
The United States has had 77 Treasury Secretaries in the last 231 years. Until now, they have all been men.
That is about to change.
President-elect Joe Biden plans to nominate former Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen to head the Treasury Department, a source close to the transition told NPR.
If confirmed, Yellen would play a leading role in shaping economic policy as the United States continues to dig its way out of the deep hole caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Yellen also made history when she became the first woman to head the central bank, a term that lasted from 2014 to 2018. She was confirmed in that position, gaining some support from Senate Republicans.
She was also one of the top White House economists in the Clinton administration and has earned praise from progressive Democrats.
“Janet Yellen has shown an absolute willingness to challenge corporate power and not be intimidated by big banks,” said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. “That is a key ingredient in rebuilding our economy.”
While the economy has partly recovered from the pandemic recession, the recovery appears to be losing steam just as the virus is setting records for new daily infections.
The surge in COVID-19 cases has already prompted new restrictions on business activity and is likely to deter consumers from going out and spending money as retailers prepare for the important holiday shopping season.
Yellen echoes the president-elect, saying that controlling the pandemic is the number one priority.
“I think we need a much more effective effort than we’ve had,” Yellen told Bloomberg TV in October. “And if we have that, it will be good not only for health, but also to open up the economy.”
Yellen cautioned that federal aid that helped fuel the recovery during the spring and early summer is running low, even as daily new infections are on the rise.
“The fiscal policy response in the United States has been extremely impressive,” Yellen said. “But the fiscal support has now expired.”
Emergency unemployment programs that currently support some 13 million people will expire at the end of December. Yellen emphasized the need to extend relief for unemployed workers, as well as cash-strapped state and local governments.
Yellen’s appointment, which has yet to be officially confirmed, comes as Biden has promised to appoint a diverse cabinet.
His transition office announced Monday that Alejandro Mayorkas would become the first Latino and immigrant to be nominated as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
Biden also appointed Avril Haines as director of national intelligence, which would make her, if confirmed, the first woman to lead the intelligence community.
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