Fed chief Yellen: I’m not resigning

Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen has no plans to resign following the election of Donald Trump.

Yellen told lawmakers Thursday that she has every intention of completing her term as head of the central bank, which expires more than a year into Trump’s tenure as president.

{mosads}“It is fully my intention to serve out that term,” she told the Joint Economic Committee.

Yellen became the first woman to lead the Fed in 2014 and was appointed to a four-year term that expires at the end of January 2018. Her commitment to staying on in that role could lead to some tension between the Fed and the upcoming Trump administration.

During the presidential debates, Trump explicitly accused Yellen of steering Fed policy to benefit President Obama politically. The claim, made without any substantive evidence, is a weighty one, given that the Fed fiercely protects its reputation as above partisan politics.

“Janet Yellen is highly political and she’s not raising rates for a very specific reason, because Obama told her not to,” he said during the first presidential debate. “He doesn’t want to see a big bubble burst during his administration.”

His claims came after earlier remarks in which Trump offered support for a low interest rate policy, a seeming contradiction to his later attacks.

Yellen and other Fed officials have repeatedly dismissed any claims they act with politics in mind.

Regardless of Yellen’s status, Trump will have the opportunity to make his mark on the Fed. There are currently two spots open on the Federal Reserve Board, as well as a third Fed position, the vice chair of supervision, that is in charge of the Fed’s regulatory activities.