WASHINGTON—Janet Yellen will become the first woman to lead the U.S. Treasury Department after the Senate voted 84-15 on Monday evening to confirm her nomination.
The 74-year-old economist, who has been at the forefront of economic policy-making for 25 years, will now play a key role advancing President Biden’s economic agenda, starting with an ambitious $1.9 trillion economic relief package that is already facing resistance from GOP lawmakers worried about its cost.
Ms. Yellen, the former Federal Reserve chairwoman, will also become the first person to lead the Treasury, Fed and the White House Council of Economic Advisers, which she chaired during the Clinton administration.
“As Fed chair and as a labor economist, she made it clear that she understands what drives our economy: It’s not the stock market; it’s not Wall Street—it’s people,” Sen. Sherrod Brown (D., Ohio) said on the Senate floor Monday.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) said Ms. Yellen’s speedy confirmation reflects his view that presidents should be able to assemble a team of “qualified and mainstream people.”
