Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday argued that President Biden’s sweeping $4 trillion economic plan is crucial to ensuring the U.S. maintains its status as the world’s top economic superpower.
During a speech in Atlanta, Yellen credited “bold fiscal policy” for the economy’s faster-than-expected recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
But she said the federal government needs to do more to address long-standing structural issues plaguing the economy, such as declining labor force participation, income inequality, the racial gap and the threat of climate change, calling on lawmakers to approve both the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, as well as partisan $3.5 trillion spending plan.
“My largest concern is not: What are the risks if we make these big investments? It is: What is the cost if we don’t?” Yellen said in prepared remarks released by the Treasury Department. “We’ve grown used to America as the world’s pre-eminent economic power. We aren’t destined to stay that way, but with these investments, I believe we will.”
