[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 182 (Friday, December 20, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9080-S9081]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Nomination of Janet Yellen

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Madam President, today I wish to express my support 
for Vice Chairman Janet Yellen, nominee for Chairman of the Federal 
Reserve.
  Dr. Yellen has dedicated her life to understanding the complex and 
evolving field of economics, and her background makes her an ideal 
candidate to replace Chairman Ben Bernanke and continue the Fed's 
efforts to boost economic growth, increase the pace of job creation, 
and ulitimately reduce the crushing unemployment that has been a drag 
on our recovery.
  Dr. Yellen's academic credentials and experience in economics are 
first rate.
  She graduated suma cum laude from Brown University in 1967 and later 
earned a doctorate in economics from Yale University in 1971.
  She began her teaching career as an assistant professor at Harvard 
University, where she taught from 1971 to 1976.
  In 1977 and 1978 she began her public service as an economist at the 
Federal Reserve Board of Governors.
  In 1980, Dr. Yellen headed west to my home State of California to 
become an assistant professor at the University of California, 
Berkeley, She rose to professor emeritus of business and economics and 
was twice awarded teacher of the year at Berkeley's distinguished Haas 
School of Business.
  During her time at Berkeley and elsewhere, Dr. Yellen published 
numerous research works, including the well-regarded ``Waiting for 
Work,'' a comprehensive study of unemployment she completed with her 
husband, the economist George Akerlof.
  Dr. Yellen's research has been published in the Journal of Economics, 
Business Economics, and the Brookings Papers on Economic Policy, 
amongst others.
  Her research has primarily focused on unemployment, monetary policy, 
and international trade--a perspective that will be vitally important 
as the Fed works to solve the complex issues facing the global economy.

[[Page S9081]]

  In 1997, she left the Federal Reserve to chair the Council of 
Economic Advisers during the Clinton administration.
  Before her appointment to Vice Chairman of the Fed she led the 
Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, keeping watch over financial 
conditions in the region as well as providing counsel on the direction 
of monetary policy.
  In 2010, she was appointed by the president and confirmed by the 
Senate to be Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve where she has ably 
served. She has been intimately involved with the Fed's interest rate 
policy and its continuation of the unprecedented program of 
quantitative easing.
  I believe that this extensive experience working on monetary policy 
issues at the Federal Reserve will make for a seamless transition to 
Chairman and provide stability to financial markets.
  Recently, a lot of attention is being paid to the issue of growing 
income inequality in our country.
  Over the last few decades, middle-class incomes have stagnated while 
incomes for high earners have enjoyed a stratospheric rise. 
Increasingly, the owners of capital are reaping a greater and greater 
share of the profits, while hard working Americans struggle to keep up.
  If this trend continues, it will make for a more volatile economy and 
put middle and lower income families in increasing financial strain.
  Most importantly, if income inequality is really a product of 
inequality of opportunity, then the United States will no longer 
deliver on its most fundamental promise, one that serves as the 
foundation for our social contract.
  To me, that outcome is unacceptable, and our leading economic 
thinkers should be working night and day to ensure that every hard-
working American has the opportunity to be successful in this country.
  The most direct way to address income inequality is to increase the 
rate of job creation in the United States. We have made significant 
progress in the recovery from the great recession, but the recovery has 
not been robust enough to translate into a robust labor market which 
increases wages for all Americans.
  Dr. Yellen has demonstrated a consistent ability to balance the Fed's 
mission of increasing employment and maintaining stable inflation. Her 
academic work suggests that she is keenly aware of the devastating 
impact of persistently high unemployment, both for families and the 
economy writ large.
  With her keen understanding of economics and a rigorous analytical 
process and a distinguished career in academia, Dr. Yellen is the right 
person to lead the Fed at this time.
  And let me just say, a woman as Chairman of the Federal Reserve--a 
talented and extraordinarily well qualified woman--is a positive thing.
  I enthusiastically support her nomination, and I encourage my 
colleagues to do the same.

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