Yellen, who is now the Fed's vice chairman, is expected to win confirmation to succeed Ben Bernanke after his second four-year term expires in January. She would become the first woman in the world to head a major central bank.
Republicans Bob Corker, Tennessee; Mark Kirk, Illinois, and Tom Coburn, Oklahoma, broke with other GOP members to support Yellen. Democrat Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., was the only Democrat to vote against Yellen's nomination. Corker had opposed her nomination for vice chair in 2010.
"Dr. Yellen understands the challenges facing our economy and the balance the Fed must strike as we navigate the path back to full employment," committee Chairman Tim Johnson, D-S.D., said in a statement. "Dr. Yellen also showed in her testimony that she understands the importance of completing ongoing Wall Street Reform rulemaking and of the Fed's regulatory role in supervising the riskiest banks.
Yellen, 67, served on the Fed's board in the 1990s. She also has taught economics at the University of California at Berkeley, headed President Clinton's Council of Economic Advisers and served as president of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank.
Yellen is considered one of the most pro-growth, or "dovish," members of the Fed's policymaking committee, meaning she has placed more emphasis on stimulating job growth than in preventing inflation. Several Republicans indicated they would oppose her nomination.
Yellen also has been instrumental in forging the Fed's easy-money policies that have supported the economy since the financial crisis and in Fed efforts to communicate more clearly to the public and financial markets.
She now faces the challenging task of gradually scaling back the Fed's extraordinary stimulus program without derailing the fragile economic recovery. The Fed is buying $85 billion in government bonds each m! onth to hold down long-term interest rates and spur economic and job growth.
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Yellen, and other Fed policymakers, also must be mindful not to move so slowly that they sow the seeds of inflation or fuel asset bubbles as low interest rates drive money to riskier investments.
Senators Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., have said they likely would try to block Yellen's nomination in the Democratic-controlled Senate floor. But a handful of Republicans are expected to join most Democrats to remove the block.
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