Yellen warns inaction on pandemic relief will bring 'more devastation'
Treasury Secretary nominee Janet Yellen, who would be the first woman to lead the Treasury Department, and the first person to have served as Treasury Secretary, Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, and Chair of the Federal Reserve, has already received bipartisan support on Capitol Hill ahead of Biden introducing her as his nominee in-person Tuesday.
Yellen opened on a personal note, saying she saw her own father’s story and that of her working neighborhood growing up -- reflected in Biden’s story, which she said inspired her to become an economist.
"When you reflect on what your father taught you about how a job is much more than a paycheck, I hear my own father who raised our family in working-class Brooklyn," Yellen began.

"I became an economist because I was concerned about the toll of unemployment on people, families and communities, and I've spent my career trying to make sure people can work and achieve the dignity and self-worth that comes with it," Yellen said. "Mr. President-elect, I know you've done the same."
Yellen said the economic damage from coronavirus pandemic has "had a disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable among us" and promised to address that with immediate action, arguing "inaction will produce a self-reinforcing downturn causing yet more devastation."
She also said she’d work together with the national security and foreign policy team Biden announced last week to help "restore America's global leadership" -- in contrast to the largely isolationist approach Trump took for four years.
"I look forward to working ... to rebuild the public trust to the American people," she said in closing. "We will be an institution that wakes up every morning thinking about you, your jobs, your paychecks, your struggles, your hopes, your dignity and your limitless potential."








