a wonderful woman who s done a terrific job. we have been working together for ten months, and she is absolutely a spectacular person. janet, thank you very much. we appreciate it. for the past four years, she has served with dedication and devotion and we are grateful for her total commitment to public service. the federal reserve is one of the most important institutions in our government. it is respected all around the world, and is crucial to our economic prosperity. i am confident that with j. as a wise steward of the federal reserve, it will have the leadership it needs in the years to come. thank you, and god bless you all. now i would like to invite j. to say a few words. thank you. thank you very much.
confirm him once again. j. will also bring to the fed a unique background of prior government service and business experience. he previously served as undersecretary at the department of treasury, in the administration of president george: h.w. wubush and the longest serving chairman in federal reserve history, j. will bring extensive private sector experience and real world perspective to our government as a result he understands what it takes for our economy to grow, and just as importantly, he understands what truly drives american success. the innovation, hard work and dreams of the american people. i also want to thank the current chair, fed chair, janet yellen.
congratulations, jerome. j. is joined here by his wife lisa and two sisters monica and elizabeth, and i say congratulations to you all. please take that bow. please. you deserve it. thank you very much for being here. today is another important milestone on the path to restoring economic opportunity for the american people. in just a short time we have already made incredible strides. unemployment is at its lowest level in more than 16 years. you know that very well. you know that very well. and you re happy about it. we ve now had back-to-back quarters of 3% growth, a major accomplishment, and we re doing better and better every single week. but if we are to sustain all of this tremendous economic
yellen. i m a little disappointed. j. is a great guy but janet was in the position and we re losing a lot of wisdom of the crisis by her leaving and that s important. there through all the decisions through the 90s, through the 2000s. came back, gave up a higher paying job as a san francisco fed president, became vice chair of the fed to help ben bernanke steer the fed through the crises they had to go through and then took on the roll of chair as the first woman chair and that s really important. diane, thank for joining me. our time cut short but we ll continue this conversation. diane swonk, founder and ceo of ds economics joining us from chicago. go to hallie jackson in the rose garden, there for the announcement. fundamentally, hallie, tricky one. it s not a major departure in policy. reporter: right. from janet yellen. who was there. jerome worked under her and says he will continue that work.
mission and am committed to making decisions with objectivity based on the best available evidence in the long-standing tradition of monetary policy independence. mr. president, thank you again for this extraordinary opportunity to serve the american people. thank you. thank you, j. [ applause ] all right. president trump nominating jerome powell. j. powell, to be the next chairman of the federal reserve starting february 1, 2018, which would have been the beginning of the second term of janet yellen. i want to go back to diane swonk, standing by. diane, there s really nothing wrong with jerome powell as a pick. there wasn t really anything wrong with, diane sorry, with janet yellen getting her second term. by most account she s done a very good job as fed chair? i think of world of janet