Yellen visits Midwest to showcase improving consumer sentiment, take aim at Trump tax cuts

WASHINGTON (AP) — Embargoed until Thursday at 1:35 pm EST

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is visiting Illinois and electoral battleground Wisconsin this week to make a case for the Biden administration’s economic agenda and offer a reminder about the Trump administration tax cuts, which she says added to the deficit and did little to promote investment.

Yellen’s travel is billed as official rather than political but comes as President Joe Biden is increasingly shifting his focus to an expected rematch against former President Donald Trump in November. The economy has been a drag on Biden’s poll numbers, but there are recent signs of improving consumer sentiment.

“Though some forecasters thought a recession last year was inevitable, President Biden and I did not,” Yellen said in prepared remarks on Thursday to the Chicago Economic Club. “Instead of contracting, the economy has continued to grow, driven by American workers and President Biden’s economic strategy. It now produces far more goods and services than it did before the pandemic.”

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