WASHINGTON: The US Senate on Monday voted by a wide margin to confirm Janet Yellen as the first woman to lead the Treasury Department, giving her a key role in Congress negotiations over a huge Covid-19 economic relief package.

Yellen is not new to the role of trailblazer, as she also was the first woman to lead the Federal Reserve, from 2014 to 2018, and previously the White House Council of Economic Advisors.

Her immediate job in the first weeks of the new administration will be to help win Congress approval for President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion rescue package to secure US economic recovery from the Covid-19 crisis.