Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate that you have swiftly scheduled today's nomination hearing, and I hope that the Committee will act with similar speed to favorably report Dr. Yellen to the full Senate.
Dr. Yellen is an excellent choice to be the new Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors and I commend President Clinton for convincing her to leave the long term security of her current position as a Governor of the Federal Reserve Board for the sometimes more elusive satisfactions of a highly visible Administration position.
Dr. Yellen's qualifications are already well known to many on this Committee through her confirmation process in 1994 to be on the Federal Reserve Board. Suffice to say at this time that she has been one of the nation's most respected academics in the field of international business - a rubric which is broad enough to encompass not only the study of broad economic matters such as wages and unemployment, but also the study of social trends like teenage pregnancy - and their impact on the economic health of our nation.
There are myriad challenges confronting the top economic advisor to the President. In fact, these challenges - balancing the budget, stabilizing Medicare and Social Security for future generations, stimulating economic growth, paving the way for new technologies and industries -- are so well known that discussion of'them almost takes on the ritualized cadences of liturgy rather than original discussion.
I would, therefore, like to turn my attention to one area that I believe gets neglected in these broad discussions of the role of the Federal Government in America's economic future; I am particularly concerned that we overlook the importance of urban revitalization as a key element in any plan of sustained economic growth.
This is not necessarily the appropriate forum to engage in a deep discussion of the topic. So, I will limit
myself to stating that I strongly urge the Council, under Dr. Yellen's leadership, to closely examine ways in which
government can not only spur business investment in our inner cities, but also ways in which the Government can
help the residents of distressed city neighborhoods build equity in their own community to foster economic growth
from the bottom up, instead of just the from the top down.
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