Yellen defends legacy amid uncertainty

Yellen and her predecessor Ben Bernanke were heavily criticised by Republicans in Congress for bloating the Fed's balance sheet with $3.5 trillion in Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen defended the central bank’s use of unconventional and often unpopular monetary policy tools after the Great Recession, highlighting some of her achievements at the helm as President Donald Trump weighs her reappointment.
 
“The US economy is much stronger today than it would have been without the unconventional monetary policy tools deployed by the Federal Reserve in response to the Great Recession,” Yellen said in Washington on Friday.
 
Yellen, on a short list of potential Fed chairs being reviewed by Trump, made the case for preserving policy makers’ ability to confront the next recession