WASHINGTON — Janet Yellen denied advocating for a smaller American Rescue Plan than the $1.9 trillion package deal proposed by the Biden administration and handed by Congress in early 2021, after an advance copy of a e-book in regards to the Treasury secretary confirmed she initially urged scaling it again by a 3rd.
Her assertion — issued, unusually, over the weekend following a Friday report by Bloomberg News on excerpts from the e-book — illustrates the administration’s struggles to convey a unified entrance because the quickest inflation in 40 years severely threatens Democrats’ possibilities to retain their skinny congressional majorities in November’s midterm elections.
“When President Biden assumed office, the nation was facing acute economic challenges. It was a time of great economic uncertainty, with legitimate risks of a downturn that could match the Great Depression,” Yellen stated within the assertion. “I never urged adoption of a smaller American Rescue Plan package, and I believe that ARP played a central role in driving strong growth throughout 2021 and afterwards.”
The e-book, “Empathy Economics” by veteran Washington journalist Owen Ullmann, is due out Sept. 27. It says that Yellen privately agreed with former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers — who severely criticized the scale of the help plan — “that too much government money was flowing into the economy too quickly.”
Ullmann’s account sheds new gentle on a coverage debate that preceded the eruption of inflation, which now poses a serious political risk to Biden and congressional Democrats.
— Christopher Condon / Bloomberg News
Source: www.bostonherald.com”