Rubio Statement on Janet Yellen Confirmation

Statement

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) released a statement after the Senate voted to confirm Dr. Janet L. Yellen to be Secretary of the Treasury. Rubio was unable to travel to Washington to vote in person, but would have opposed her confirmation.

"Congress has given the Secretary of the Treasury powerful tools to counter the economic and national security threats posed by hostile actors like the Chinese Communist Party, and the Trump Administration effectively used a number of those tools," Rubio said. "I appreciate Dr. Yellen's prior government service and her willingness to continue that service in the Biden Administration. However, her failure to commit to continuing efforts to address the Chinese Communist Party's exploitation of U.S. capital markets, especially as Wall Street increases the flow of American capital to malicious Chinese companies, is disturbing. Future U.S. policy must prioritize the interests of American workers, servicemembers, mom-and-pop investors, and retirees over Beijing and lucrative fees for Wall Street. For these reasons, I oppose her nomination to be Secretary of the Treasury."

Rubio also joined Senators Ben Sasse (R-NE), Tom Cotton (R-AR), and Mitt Romney (R-UT) in sending a letter to Dr. Yellen expressing concern for her assessment of risks to national security posed by the financial and technological interdependence between the U.S. and China.

"As a key advisor to President Biden on national security issues that involve the most powerful and sophisticated tools of economic statecraft, it is critical that you demonstrate to Congress that your decisions will be informed by a clear-eyed view of the threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to the United States," the senators wrote. "It is equally imperative that all nominees to the Treasury Department follow your leadership in this regard."

"We appreciate your willingness to consider the use of economic tools under the authorities given to the Department of the Treasury to counter the CCP's malign activities, work with our allies who face similar challenges, and invest more in the sources of our domestic technological strength," the senators continued. "We remain concerned however about the strategic consequences of any reticence to commit to use those tools to economically challenge and technologically decouple American financial interests from the CCP."

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