Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will also receive an economic briefing from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, shortly after she takes part in the first meeting of the Group of Seven rich economies since the new U.S. administration took office.
Another prominent economist is warning that President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid relief plan is too large, adding his voice to that of Larry Summers, the former Treasury Secretary under President Bill Clinton and top economic adviser for President Barack Obama, who sparked a vigorous debate on the issue with an an op-ed for The Washington Post last week warning that Biden’s plan was risky. Olivier Blanchard, the former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund and past president of the American Economic Association, says he agrees with Summers, suggesting that Biden’s plan may be nearly $1 trillion more that what’s needed and could overheat the economy. “I am known as a dove,” Blanchard wrote as part of a series of tweets over the weekend. “I believe that the absolute priority is to protect people and firms affected by covid. Still, I agree with Summers. The 1.9 trillion program could overheat the economy so badly as to be
How Is Biden’s Covid Relief Bill like the Patriot Act? SHARE
President Biden seems determined to pass his “American Rescue Plan” without any Republican votes. It’s $1.9 trillion or bust, he says, on top of the unprecedented $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill from March and another $900 billion in December, some of which still hasn’t been spent. In fact, Republicans don’t have the clout to stop the bill. But the plan is also drawing some sharp criticism from non‐Republican sources. Two big articles in the Washington Post Thursday and Friday urged that the plan be pared back to presumably necessary measures, with other components to be considered through the normal non‐emergency congressional process of hearings and floor debate.
It looks unlikely that the legislation to increase the minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 will pass into law, after centrist Democrats expressed skepticism at the measure.