Senate approves Janet Yellen as Fed chair The US Senate on Monday approved Janet Yellen as head of the Federal Reserve, making her the first female chief of the US central bank. She was approved in a 56-26 vote, with some senators who had threatened to vote against her unable to get to Washington DC because of flight delays. Some Republicans who opposed the Fed's $85bn-a-month asset purchase programme voted against Ms Yellen, despite the agency last month announcing the beginning of its tapering of the stimulus initiative, cutting it to $75bn for January. It will be up to Ms Yellen, who will take over on February 1, to guide the Fed through what current Fed chairman Ben Bernanke has said will likely be a "measured reduction" in the asset-buying programme throughout this year. The Fed could change course if there are shifts in the economy. But the tapering failed to satisfy some Republicans, such as Senator Chuck Grassley who spoke against Ms Yellen's nomination. He said it was unclear how the Fed would wind down the programme without "spooking investors." He also said Ms Yellen had not presented a plan on how to handle the issue. "The stock market has become addicted to the Fed's easy money policy," said Mr Grassley, who also voted against Mr Bernanke's second term. Fed watchers were following Monday's Senate session to see whether Ms Yellen would get even fewer votes than her predecessor. In 2010, Mr Bernanke was appointed to another term by a smaller margin than any predecessor. He was approved in a 70-30 vote, with some of his critics blaming him for the Fed's behaviour before the 2008 financial crisis. Some Republicans who voted against Mr Bernanke, such as Richard Shelby and Mike Crapo, also declined to clear Ms Yellen on Monday. But unlike Mr Bernanke, Ms Yellen needed only 51 votes of support, which assured her approval in the Democrat-controlled Senate. White House nominations previously needed at least 60 votes to overcome the threat of a filibuster until majority leader Harry Reid pushed for a change in November that now requires only a simple majority to get past that hurdle. The stock market has become addicted to the Fed's easy money policy Senator Chuck Grassley, who spoke against nomination Republican Senator Rand Paul had threatened to delay the vote on Ms Yellen indefinitely through a filibuster but under current rules he could only temporarily push it back. On Monday he tweeted criticisms of the Fed throughout the day but a delayed flight meant he did not make it back to Washington in time for the vote. Mr Paul wanted a vote on his bill to audit the Fed. Mr Bernanke, who will chair one more Fed meeting at the end of this month, gave guidance in December on how the Fed would probably act this year. Interest rates were unlikely to rise until "well past the time" that the unemployment rate dips below 6.5 per cent, he said. The rate currently stands at 7 per cent. Financial regulation will also be a focus for the Fed. Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown praised Ms Yellen's attention to that issue, saying she recognised the importance of ending so-called Too Big to Fail banks. Early this year, the Fed will issue proposals on the amount of long-term debt that large banks will have to issue to strengthen the capital levels of those banks in a time of crisis. The Fed will also issue a proposal on short-term wholesale funding, which the agency says is too risky among other issues.