First Black woman to lead President's Council of Economic Advisers: Cecilia Rouse

Cecilia Rouse, United States President Joe Biden's top nomination for chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, was confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday. Rouse received the confirmation with a landslide majority vote: 45 votes for and only four votes against. She will now serve as the President's top economist, advising him on the country's federal economic legislation. Most notably, Rouse will be the first Black official, and only the fourth woman, to assume the position. This makes her confirmation a rather monumental occasion. She was welcomed into the Biden administration with high praise, CNN reports.

Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Ohio and the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, said on Tuesday that the newly appointed chair had spent much of her career "focusing on workers, and ensuring that this economy works for everyone." "Her expertise and leadership will guide this Administration and Congress, as we get to work not only to recover from this pandemic but to build a better economy for the future," he affirmed. "For too long, American workers have not had anyone on their side in the White House. That ends now." There is no doubt that Rouse and Biden share similar ideologies when it comes to the working class.

Earlier this week, the President released a video on Twitter reiterating a worker's constitutional right to unionize, referring to Amazon's highly-anticipated vote. Rouse, too, is equally committed to workers' rights as a labor economist. This is also not the first time she and Biden will be working together. She previously served as a member of former President Barack Obama's Council of Economic Advisers as well. "My time working for President Obama as a member of his Council of Economic Advisers—from the beginning of his presidency in 2009 through his first two years—was a thrilling time, but also a terrifying one as we saw the economy just skittering," she said of her tenure under the 44th President. "I worked to help develop a set of policies in a number of areas, including finding ways to make it more attractive for employers to hire workers and finding ways for workers to invest in themselves to make them more productive."

Additionally, she has worked for President Bill Clinton's National Economic Council. Rouse has also served as the dean of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, one of the country's most prestigious professional public policy schools. Rouse will be joined by Jared Bernstein, Biden's chief economist when he was Vice President under Obama, as well as Heather Boushey, the co-founder of the left-leaning Washington Center for Equitable Growth. Both individuals will also be part of the Council of Economic Advisers. While Rouse does inherit a shaky economy yet again, given the ongoing pandemic and its economic effects, there is no doubt that she will once again rise to the occasion. The economist once stated that she was "drawn to economics because it is a discipline in which she can really address social problems."