By David Lawder
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will launch a month-long speaking tour to tout President Joe Biden’s recent legislative achievements, starting with a Sept. 8 speech in Detroit to explain their impact on the U.S. economy, the Treasury said on Thursday.
Yellen will discuss in Detroit how this summer’s legislative packages to invest in green energy, healthcare, semiconductors and research, along with last year’s infrastructure law, will increase the U.S. economy’s productive capacity, making it more resilient to shocks, a Treasury official said.
Yellen intends to link the legislation to her concept of “Modern Supply Side Economics” introduced in January, twisting a Reagan-era phrase traditionally associated with tax cuts and deregulation to assert that Democrats’ climate and human capital investment agenda would spread growth more fairly.
Yellen will make a speech in the Washington area the week of Sept. 12 on an $80 billion investment in the Internal Revenue Service to boost tax compliance. During the week of Sept 19, she will discuss the impact of Biden’s economic agenda on tackling inflation, supply shocks and making the United States more competitive, the Treasury official said.
She will travel to North Carolina the week of Sept. 26 to discuss investments in clean energy technology from the Inflation Reduction Act, the Treasury official said.
Yellen’s effort comes as the Biden administration ramps up pressure on Republicans two months ahead of mid-term congressional elections in which Democrats are battling to maintain their thin majority in Congress.
In a televised prime time speech on Thursday in Philadelphia, Biden will ask Americans to push back at the ballot box against extremism that he says is increasingly promoted by Republican candidates aligned with former President Donald Trump.
(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
