WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States is facing an “unacceptable level of inflation” and an appropriate fiscal stance is needed to help ease inflationary pressures without hurting the economy, the U.S. Treasury Secretary said on Tuesday. Janet Yellen.
In a statement prepared for a hearing before the Senate Finance Committee, Janet Yellen says the spending bill wanted by President Joe Biden could help lower inflation that is weighing on consumers, including the prescription drug component and the proposed clean energy initiatives.
“We are currently facing macroeconomic challenges, including the unacceptable level of inflation, the turbulence related to the disruptions caused by the pandemic on the supply chains and the impact of the disruptions on the supply in the markets. oil and food products resulting from the Russian war in Ukraine,” she said.
Janet Yellen has come under heavy criticism from the Republican camp since admitting she was “mistaken”, declaring last year that inflation was “transitional” when rising prices have now reached a 40-year high in the United States.
The US Treasury Secretary, while ensuring respect for the independence of the US Federal Reserve, said that the institution’s primary mission was to bring down inflation.
“To ease inflationary pressures without hurting labor market strength, an appropriate fiscal stance is needed to complement the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy actions,” she said.
Joe Biden’s administration is working to push forward a stalled climate and social spending bill in a slimmed-down version that could lead to prescription drug pricing reform and benefit tax credits in the field of so-called clean energy technologies.
(Reporting David Lawder and Andrea Shalal; French version Claude Chendjou, editing by Kate Entringer)
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