Washington (AFP)

Joe Biden's economic team, including future Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, made their debut on Tuesday, when the head of the Central Bank warns that the future of the US economy is still uncertain due to the pandemic.

It is from his home town of Wilmington, Delaware, that the president-elect will himself orchestrate, at midday, the first steps of this team composed mainly of women and people from visible minorities.

This event comes in parallel with the presentation by a small group of Democratic and Republican senators of a new plan to support the economy that does not have the backing of the outgoing administration of Donald Trump.

Used to power struggles in Washington, Janet Yellen, former president of the Central Bank (Fed), must become the first woman secretary of the Treasury.

The appointment of this respected progressive economist is consensual and should therefore be easily confirmed in the Senate in January.

Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, the country's largest union, welcomed the appointment, seeing it as a sign that workers and minorities will be at the heart of the Biden administration.

"As Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen made crucial decisions that prioritized jobs and wages for all workers, including communities of color long ignored by economic policies," he recalled. .

- Help for Christmas?

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Joe Biden's economic team will have more broadly the delicate task of putting back on track an economy which in the spring suffered its worst crisis since that of 1929 and which is struggling to recover from it.

For months, Fed President Jerome Powell has been urging Congress to vote on a new aid plan to take over from the $ 2.2 trillion emergency plan adopted at the end of March.

Auditioned before the Senate, he stressed on Tuesday that the world's largest economy still had long “difficult” months ahead of it, despite medical advances in vaccines.

"We still have a long way to go, we have around 10 million people who have lost their jobs because of the pandemic," he insisted, noting that with the resurgence of the pandemic, many small businesses were in danger of going bankrupt.

The most modest households do not have savings to go through a prolonged crisis, he also noted.

Faced with the urgency of the situation, a small group of Democratic and Republican parliamentarians on Tuesday proposed a $ 908 billion economic stimulus plan to break the deadlock.

For now, the aid package does not have the approval of the White House, but the resumption of negotiations is a sign that elected officials from both parties want to move forward on this issue blocked since the summer.

Another encouraging element for the negotiations: Democratic President of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are due to meet by phone in the early afternoon, a first since October, to discuss a future budget law but also measures to combat the effects of the pandemic, he told reporters in Congress.

"It would be inexcusable if we left town without a deal" before the Christmas break, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin said.

- Expiry of aid -

Democrats and Republicans know time is running out as the spring measures have started to expire.

In addition, the economic recovery, rather sustained in the third quarter, slows down considerably at the end of the year with the new wave of infections with the new coronavirus.

And all eyes are on 2021.

Failure to reach an agreement could have serious longer-term consequences for the economy and millions of Americans.

Some 12 million people are set to lose their unemployment benefits on December 26.

Coverages for tenants and students who have taken out loans are also about to expire.

Recent news on the vaccine front is "very positive in the medium term," commented Jerome Powell.

But "for now, significant challenges and uncertainties remain, including the timing, production and distribution" of one or more possible vaccines, he argued.

For his part, Steven Mnuchin urged Congress to dip into $ 455 billion in unused emergency relief funds to fuel a new round of support for households and businesses.

© 2020 AFP