Former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen didn’t push back on reports that she’s in the running to become the next Treasury secretary, while voicing support for policies in tune with the man who’ll make that decision, President-elect Joe Biden.

“I don’t have anything for you on that I’m sorry,” Yellen said Monday when asked at the New Economy Forum about the reports. Queried further if she thought she’d be good at the job, she said, “It’s for other people to decide, I think.”

Bloomberg News reported on Nov. 13 that Yellen is under consideration to be Biden’s Treasury secretary, along with a number of others, according to people familiar with the matter.

Participating in a panel discussion at the virtual forum, Yellen said it was critical for U.S. lawmakers to provide further help to an economy recovering from a pandemic-induced nose-dive because the Fed has limited monetary tools left after pushing interest rates to near zero.

Fiscal Policy

“Fiscal policy has a very important role to play now,” said Yellen, who is a distinguished fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington. “I believe it’s essential.”

After rolling out some $3 trillion in aid for the economy, Congress has been deadlocked over how best to provide additional support, with Democrats pressing for much bigger government spending than Republicans are willing to countenance.

Biden has put forward an ambitious fiscal plan to not only help the economy come back from its deepest slump since the Great Depression but to reshape it for the future, including steps to combat climate change.

“We need public policy oriented toward making a big difference on climate change,” Yellen said.

Yellen’s interest in climate change dates back to her time as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers when Bill Clinton was president and Al Gore vice president. It was then that she became an advocate of measures to combat global warming and now -- like many economists -- supports a tax on carbon, something that Biden has not proposed

A meticulous macroeconomist who specialized in the study of the labor market, 74-year-old Yellen spent much of her professional career at the U.S. central bank, including as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and vice chairman of the central bank’s board in Washington.

While Yellen shied away from commenting on her qualifications to be Treasury secretary, fellow panel member and former Indian central banker Raghuram Rajan was not so reticent. “She would be a great Treasury secretary,” said Rajan, who is now a professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

The New Economy Forum is an annual gathering of leaders in business, government, energy and trade to discuss some of the world’s most intractable challenges. The coronavirus pandemic and the impact it has wrought on the global economy is a centerpiece of those talks this year.

The four-day forum is organized by Bloomberg Media Group, a division of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.