Janet Yellen

Thank you for this opportunity to appear before you today.

Broader measures of unemployment are much higher.

I led the effort to adopt a statement of the Federal Open Market Committee's longer-run objectives, including a 2-percent goal for inflation.

Low interest rates harm savers; it is absolutely true.

I absolutely feel that that is essential and appropriate, yes.

I believe that supporting the recovery today is the surest path to returning to a more normal approach to monetary policy.

I approach this task with a clear understanding that the Congress has entrusted the Federal Reserve with great responsibilities.

I strongly believe that monetary policy is most effective when the public understands what the Fed is trying to do.

the objective of our policy is to broadly benefit all Americans, especially those who were seeing harm come to them

Was there any task more important for the Fed since the 1930s than understanding the financial system?

I think we have a much safer and sounder financial system than we had pre-crisis, but as I indicated, we need to do more.

It has been a privilege for me to serve the Federal Reserve at different times and in different roles over the past 36 years and an honor to be nominated by the President to lead the Fed as Chair of the Board of Governors.

Dodd-Frank put into place an agenda that... should make a very meaningful difference in terms of too big to fail.

Thank you so much for being willing to consider taking on this role at the Fed and bringing your expertise to bear.

It is the role and responsibility of market regulators, particularly the CFTC here, to be looking into possibilities of market manipulation.

I would argue that we cannot have normal rates unless the economy is normal.

Now, the Fed contends that its policy of quantitative easing does not present a serious inflation risk.

We are involved in a very comprehensive review of commodities activities in financial holding companies.

Too big to fail is damaging. It creates moral hazard. It corrodes market discipline.

I will need to study this issue more closely in terms of what FSOC's procedures are, but I feel it should be clear why a particular firm has been designated if that occurs.

addressing too big to fail has to be among the most important goals of the post-crisis period.

no one who lived through that financial crisis would ever want to risk another one that could subject the economy to what we are painfully going through and recovering from.

Americans can be confident that the FOMC has both the ability and the will to prevent inflation.

I agree that fiscal policy has been working at cross purposes to monetary policy.

I would be strongly committed to working with the FOMC to continue promoting a robust economic recovery.