Janet Yellen on Powell's re-nomination: I'm very pleased with the president's choice

Janet Yellen, U.S. Treasury secretary, joins 'Closing Bell' to discuss Powell's re-nomination, growing inflation concerns and more. For access to live and exclusive video from CNBC subscribe to CNBC PRO: https://cnb.cx/2NGeIvi

Jerome Powell, who guided the Federal Reserve and the nation’s economy through the staggering and sudden Covid-19 recession by implementing unprecedented monetary stimulus, is being nominated for a second term as chairman of the U.S. central bank.

President Joe Biden made the announcement Monday morning following weeks of speculation that a push from progressives might see Fed Governor Lael Brainard get the spot.

Acknowledging the political pressure he faced to nominate a more progressive Democrat than the Republican Powell, Biden said Monday afternoon he settled on Powell because the current economic circumstances present “enormous potential and enormous uncertainty” and require “stability and independence.”

Brainard was designated as vice chair of the board of governors; she had been widely expected to get a separate vice chair for supervision post, which oversees the nation’s banking system. As vice chair for monetary policy, she would succeed Richard Clarida, whose term expires Jan. 31, 2022, and will oversee a wider swath of policy decisions.

Read more: Who is Lael Brainard?

“As I’ve said before, we can’t just return to where we were before the pandemic, we need to build our economy back better, and I’m confident that Chair Powell and Dr. Brainard’s focus on keeping inflation low, prices stable, and delivering full employment will make our economy stronger than ever before,” Biden said in an earlier statement.

The nominations next head to the Senate for confirmation.

In making the decision, Biden praised the Powell Fed for its “decisive” action in the early days of the pandemic.

The Fed rolled out an unprecedented array of lending programs while also cutting interest rates back to near zero and instituting a monthly bond-buying program that would increase the central bank’s holdings of Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities by more than $4 trillion.

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