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WASHINGTON – President-elect Joe Biden said Thursday he has decided who he will appoint as Treasury secretary and will make the announcement in the coming weeks.
“You’ll soon hear my choice for the Treasury, either right before or right after Thanksgiving,” Biden told reporters in Wilmington, Delaware.
“He is someone who will be accepted by all elements of the Democratic Party, from progressive coalitions to moderate coalitions,” he added.
Biden’s team on Thursday reported to business allies that it had narrowed its list of options for Treasury Secretary to at least three names, according to people briefed on the matter.
The main candidates are economist Lael Brainard, member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors; Roger Ferguson, CEO of TIAA; and Janet Yellen, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve.
Yellen appears to have approval from both sides of the party. Ferguson, who announced his intention to withdraw from the TIAA in March, wants to return to the federal government. He has experience as Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve.
Either Brainard or Yellen would be the first female Treasury secretary. Ferguson would be the first black person to hold the post.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, a progressive who had been mentioned as a possible contender for the Treasury, appears to be out of the race.
Biden also appeared to give a positive assessment of the performance of current Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.
“The way the Federal Reserve approached the dollar issue, I think, has been in a positive direction,” Biden said.
“Interest rates are as low as they have been in modern history, and I think that’s a positive thing. It gives credit to the possibility that we can spend money, deficit spending on economic growth from the start. And so I think it has been positive so far. “
Powell’s four-year term as Fed chairman expires in February 2022, a year after Biden’s first term. Biden could choose to rename him for the job.
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