WASHINGTON — When Joe Biden announced his intention to nominate Janet Yellen as treasury secretary, he joked that 'Hamilton' creator Lin Manuel Miranda should write a musical about her. While there's no official word whether that is actually happening, there is at least one song on the soundtrack thanks to Minneapolis rapper Dessa.
“We might have to ask Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote the musical about the first secretary of the treasury, ‘Hamilton,’ to write another musical for the first woman secretary of the treasury — Yellen,” Biden said.
Dessa, part of the hip-hop collective Doomtree, and who was also featured on the Hamilton Mixtape and has worked with Miranda in the past, did her part and released "Who's Yellen Now?" a 'Hamilton'-esque celebration of Yellen, who was confirmed as Treasury Secretary on Monday, making her the first woman to hold the job in the department's 232-year history.
Yellen, a former chair of the Federal Reserve, was approved by the Senate on a 84-15 vote, becoming the third member of Biden’s Cabinet to win confirmation.
She is expected to play a key role in gaining congressional approval of Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, which is running into stiff opposition from Republicans who believe the price tag is too high.
She enters the Treasury job after many years serving in other top economic jobs, including as the first woman to serve as chair of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2018.
