The U.S. economy is mostly in good shape but that isn’t saving Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell from a spell of angst.

Treasury Secretary Yellen says she believes fears that the administrations $1.9 trillion relief bill could trigger unwanted inflation are misplaced. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)WASHINGTON – Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says fears that the administration's $1.9 trillion relief bill could trigger a rapid rise in inflation are misplaced. Asked about concerns by some economists that the measure could rev up the economy too fast and trigger higher inflation, Yellen said, “I really don't think that is going to happen. Yellen said inflation was “too low” during that period of very low unemployment. The House is expected to give final passage to the relief bill this week and the administration has said the president will sign the measure as soon as it reaches his desk.

Treasury Secretary Yellen says recent signs of improvement in the economy are no reason to scale back the administrations $1.9 trillion relief plan. She said in an interview Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, that the economy remains in a deep hole with many people still hurting. “We are digging out of a deep hole,” Yellen said. Ad“The costs of doing too little is much higher than the price of doing something big," Yellen said. Asked how much this “Build Back Better” plan would cost, Yellen said the plan was still being developed and the administration did not have a cost estimate yet.

President-elect Joe Biden announced Yellen as his nominee for Treasury Secretary. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)WASHINGTON – The Senate Finance Committee approved President Joe Biden’s nomination of Janet Yellen to be the nation’s 78th treasury secretary on Friday, setting up a final vote that would make her the first woman to hold the job. The Finance Committee approved her nomination on a 26-0 vote. Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the incoming chair of the Finance Committee, said he hoped to get Yellen's nomination approved by the full Senate later Friday, but the vote was not scheduled. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told Yellen that Biden’s plan represented a “laundry list of liberal structural economic reforms.”As treasury secretary, Yellen, 74, would occupy a pivotal role in shaping and directing Biden’s economic policies.

“More must be done,” Yellen told the Senate Finance Committee during her confirmation hearing. They also objected to the inclusion of such long-term Democratic goals as boosting the minimum wage to $15 per hour. “They are struggling to get by and raising the minimum wage would help these workers,” she said. Since leaving the Fed, Yellen has been a distinguished researcher at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. Yellen has agreed to recuse herself from Treasury matters involving certain firms that have compensated her for her talks.

FILE - In this Aug. 14, 2019, file photo former Fed Chair Janet Yellen speaks with FOX Business Network guest anchor Jon Hilsenrath in the Fox Washington bureau in Washington. President-elect Joe Biden announced Yellen as his nominee for Treasury Secretary. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)WASHINGTON – Treasury Secretary nominee Janet Yellen is calling on Congress to do more to fight a deep pandemic-induced recession, saying the threats of a longer and even worse downturn are too great to cut back on support now. The damage has been sweeping and as the president-elect said last Thursday, our response must be too,” Yellen said. Yellen said that she and Biden were aware of the country's rising debt burden.

– With unemployment still high and the pandemic threatening yet another economic slump, President-elect Joe Biden is assembling a team of liberal advisers who have long focused on the nation’s workers and government efforts to address economic inequality. Biden also selected Wally Adeyemo to be Yellen’s deputy, which would make him the first Black deputy treasury secretary. “They’re fairly conventional liberal economists and experts.”Still, the Biden administration’s ambitious goals will face solid opposition from Republicans in Congress. She first made her mark in the Clinton orbit, and served as policy director for Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential race. Bernstein has also worked as a social worker and was an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a labor-supported think tank.

Biden also selected Wally Adeyemo to be Yellen’s deputy, which would make him the first Black deputy treasury secretary. Rouse, Tanden and Adeyemo will all require Senate confirmation, and Tanden in particular is already drawing heavy Republican criticism. “They’re fairly conventional liberal economists and experts.”Still, the Biden administration’s ambitious goals will face solid opposition from Republicans in Congress. She first made her mark in the Clinton orbit, and served as policy director for Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential race. Bernstein has also worked as a social worker and was an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a labor-supported think tank.