Key Vote Alert – Senate – “NO” on Confirmation of Janet Yellen to be Secretary of the Treasury

  |  

Club for Growth strongly opposes the confirmation of Janet Yellen to be Secretary of the Treasury. Her confirmation will be considered soon in the United States Senate. The result of the vote will be included in the Club for Growth Foundation’s 2020 Congressional Scorecard.

Janet Yellen’s nomination to be Secretary of the Treasury reminds the American people of the policies that created a slow economic recovery from the Great Recession and the dismal growth during the Obama years. While she served in an “independent role” at the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2018, she is a partisan that has been repeatedly nominated throughout her career by Democrat Presidents Clinton, Obama, and now Biden.

In 2021, Yellen still supports the tired ideas like stimulus spending from previous administrations, but is also openly embracing new tax schemes, including her support for a carbon tax. Yellen told the Senate she is “fully supportive of effective carbon pricing and I know that the President is as well,” The plan supported by Yellen would create a $40 per metric ton carbon tax and provide for 5 percent increases each subsequent year to achieve a 50 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2035. In the 10th year of the carbon tax, the tax would become $65.15 per metric ton, and if the plan started in 2021, the $40 carbon tax would nearly double to $79.20 per metric ton by 2035.

The carbon tax will eliminate jobs in the energy sector. Along with Biden’s executive order to ban new fracking on federal lands and his agenda to eliminate fossil fuels, it is clear the anti-energy independence policies of the Biden Administration will impact all workers and consumers.  From employment levels and job creation, to transportation costs and energy efficiency policies – the sign is clear: The Biden Administration is working to enact as much of the Green New Deal as possible to change the economy forever.

Yellen’s support for Biden to rejoin the Paris Agreement is another example of the Left’s petulance toward punishing entrepreneurship and innovation in America. The Paris Agreement will destroy international competition in markets. Many businesses are highly efficient and doing great things to limit pollution in America. The Paris Agreement will cause many job creators to go out of business. Innovation in America is spurred by low levels of regulation. Additionally, the Biden Administration’s executive order to require federal agencies to reverse hundreds of deregulatory actions undertaken by the Trump Administration is an enormous economic mistake that will badly damage the U.S. economy.

Economic policies are largely administered and negotiated by top Cabinet Officials and White House staffers, including the Treasury Secretary, so this nomination is critical in the path forward for the recovery of the U.S. economy. A carbon tax will punish U.S. job creators and U.S. workers while emboldening economic international competitors.

The socialist economic schemes envisioned by the Biden Administration will bring Yellen to the negotiating table with other Cabinet Secretaries, world leaders, and Members of Congress. Yellen will work with liberals in Congress to redistribute wealth through tax increases by negotiating the rolling back of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Rather than increasing taxes, the Biden Administration should reduce the taxation burden on U.S. taxpayers.

None of these actions supported by Yellen will benefit the U.S. economy. The Biden agenda is projected to hurt economic growth in many key industries and sectors of the economy. One area that is not projected to get cut is the federal government. At a time when the economy is struggling due to a pandemic, the size, scope, and cost of the federal government has grown immensely. Americans now see the impact of government more closely through the transparency of government stifling economic liberty. Policies that allow for economic freedom and prosperity should be pursued because they will grow the economy, restore employment in America, and return business activity to pre-COVID levels.

Club for Growth Foundation’s Congressional Scorecard for the 116th Congress provides a comprehensive rating of how well or how poorly each member of Congress supports pro-growth, free-market policies and will be distributed to the public.

Read More

Vote Results

Club Position

No

Required for Majority

1/2

Vote Results

Nomination Confirmed

Vote Number

6

Vote Date

January 25, 2021

Vote Counts

YEAs:

84

NAYs:

15

Not Voting:

1

Name

State

Party

Vote Position

Lisa Murkowski

AK

R

Y

Dan Sullivan

AK

R

N

Richard Shelby

AL

R

N

Tommy Tuberville

AL

R

N

John Boozman

AR

R

N

Tom Cotton

AR

R

N

Mark Kelly

AZ

D

Y

Kyrsten Sinema

AZ

D

Y

Dianne Feinstein

CA

D

Y

Alex Padilla

CA

D

Y

Michael Bennet

CO

D

Y

John Hickenlooper

CO

D

Y

Richard Blumenthal

CT

D

Y

Christopher Murphy

CT

D

Y

Thomas Carper

DE

D

Y

Christopher Coons

DE

D

Y

Marco Rubio

FL

R

A

Rick Scott

FL

R

N

Thomas Ossoff

GA

D

Y

Raphael Warnock

GA

D

Y

Mazie Hirono

HI

D

Y

Brian Schatz

HI

D

Y

Joni Ernst

IA

R

Y

Chuck Grassley

IA

R

Y

Mike Crapo

ID

R

Y

Jim Risch

ID

R

N

Tammy Duckworth

IL

D

Y

Richard Durbin

IL

D

Y

Mike Braun

IN

R

Y

Todd Young

IN

R

Y

Roger Marshall

KS

R

Y

Jerry Moran

KS

R

Y

Mitch McConnell

KY

R

Y

Rand Paul

KY

R

N

Bill Cassidy

LA

R

Y

John Kennedy

LA

R

Y

Edward Markey

MA

D

Y

Elizabeth Warren

MA

D

Y

Benjamin Cardin

MD

D

Y

Chris Van Hollen

MD

D

Y

Susan Collins

ME

R

Y

Angus King

ME

I

Y

Gary Peters

MI

D

Y

Debbie Stabenow

MI

D

Y

Amy Klobuchar

MN

D

Y

Tina Smith

MN

D

Y

Roy Blunt

MO

R

Y

Josh Hawley

MO

R

N

Cindy Hyde-Smith

MS

R

Y

Roger Wicker

MS

R

Y

Steve Daines

MT

R

Y

Jon Tester

MT

D

Y

Richard Burr

NC

R

Y

Thom Tillis

NC

R

Y

Kevin Cramer

ND

R

N

John Hoeven

ND

R

N

Deb Fischer

NE

R

Y

Ben Sasse

NE

R

Y

Maggie Hassan

NH

D

Y

Jeanne Shaheen

NH

D

Y

Cory Booker

NJ

D

Y

Robert Menendez

NJ

D

Y

Martin Heinrich

NM

D

Y

Ben Lujan

NM

D

Y

Catherine Cortez Masto

NV

D

Y

Jacky Rosen

NV

D

Y

Kirsten Gillibrand

NY

D

Y

Chuck Schumer

NY

D

Y

Sherrod Brown

OH

D

Y

Rob Portman

OH

R

Y

James Inhofe

OK

R

Y

James Lankford

OK

R

Y

Jeff Merkley

OR

D

Y

Ron Wyden

OR

D

Y

Bob Casey

PA

D

Y

Pat Toomey

PA

R

Y

Jack Reed

RI

D

Y

Sheldon Whitehouse

RI

D

Y

Lindsey Graham

SC

R

Y

Tim Scott

SC

R

Y

Mike Rounds

SD

R

Y

John Thune

SD

R

Y

Marsha Blackburn

TN

R

N

Bill Hagerty

TN

R

Y

John Cornyn

TX

R

Y

Ted Cruz

TX

R

N

Mike Lee

UT

R

N

Mitt Romney

UT

R

Y

Tim Kaine

VA

D

Y

Mark Warner

VA

D

Y

Patrick Leahy

VT

D

Y

Bernie Sanders

VT

I

Y

Maria Cantwell

WA

D

Y

Patty Murray

WA

D

Y

Tammy Baldwin

WI

D

Y

Ron Johnson

WI

R

Y

Shelley Moore Capito

WV

R

Y

Joe Manchin

WV

D

Y

John Barrasso

WY

R

N

Cynthia Lummis

WY

R

Y

Read More