Janet YellenNominated President-elect Joe Biden for Secretary of the Treasury on Tuesday will call for “big” action on the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis at its Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday, according to prepared remarks obtained by CBS News. The Senate will begin confirmation hearings on Tuesday for Yellen and several of its key members Mr Biden’s office.
“Economists do not always agree, but I think there is a consensus now: without further action, we risk a longer and more painful recession now – and the long-term scarring of the economy later,” Yellen will say.
Her call to action comes just days after Mr Biden unveiled an FDR-style vision to control the coronavirus and tackle the economic crisis that has plagued millions since the beginning of last year.
“In the next few months, we will need more help to distribute the vaccine; to reopen schools; to help states keep firefighters and teachers in the workplace,” Yellen will say in his remarks. “We will need more funding to ensure that unemployment insurance controls continue to disappear; and to help families who are at risk of starvation or loss of housing.”
Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion US rescue plan includes provisions such as extending increased unemployment benefits through September and increasing those benefits from the current $ 300 a week to $ 400 a week, sending direct aid to families in the form of $ 1,400 checks, the national vaccine distribution plan, and a number of other aid measures. Yellen will recognize the price of 1.9 trillion dollars on Tuesday.
“Neither the president-elect nor I are proposing this aid package without appreciation for the country’s debt burden,” Yellen will say. “But right now, with interest rates at historic lows, the smartest thing we can do is act hard. In the long run, I think the benefits will far outweigh the costs, especially if we care about helping people who have struggled for a very long time. “
Yellen, who previously served as president of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2018, will say he believes the Secretary of the Treasury has a dual mission: Helping Americans get out of the pandemic and back to work and also rebuild the economy. , so that American workers can compete globally.
Yellen is one of five Biden nominees to appear before Senate committees on Tuesday. Appointed Secretary of State Tony Blinking, Secretary of Defense appointed general retired Lloyd Austin, Designated Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and director of the national intelligence candidate April Haines he will also appear before Senate committees.
If confirmed, Yellen will be the first woman to serve as secretary of the treasury in the department’s more than 230-year history. Previously, she was the first woman to serve as president of the Federal Reserve.