US Senate to vote Monday on Yellen for Federal Reserve

WASHINGTON - The US Senate will vote Monday on the nomination of Janet Yellen to replace outgoing Ben Bernanke as chair of the Federal Reserve, Senate Democratic staff said Friday. Yellen, currently the Fed vice-chair, easily passed a Senate Banking Committee vote in November, but the full Senate vote stalled amid other key business in the chamber and tangles between Democrats and Republicans over nomination procedures generally. A vote endorsing her nomination would clear the way for Yellen to take the lead at the Fed on February 1, the first woman ever to lead the US central bank. At 67, Yellen has built a strong reputation as an academic economist, teaching at the University of California at Berkeley, and as a veteran policymaker at the Fed. She is not expected to embark on any major policy shifts: she has been a close ally of Bernanke's easy money policy focused on reducing unemployment in the wake of the 2008-2009 Great Recession. She has also been an architect of the Fed's policy of increased transparency and more open communication of its likely policy direction. — Agence France-Presse