Didn't push for cuts in Covid-19 relief package, says Janet Yellen

The book, "Empathy Economics" by veteran Washington journalist Owen Ullmann, is due out Sept. 27

Janet Yellen denied advocating for a smaller American Rescue Plan than the $1.9 trillion package proposed by the Biden administration and passed by Congress in early 2021, after an advance copy of a book about the Treasury secretary showed she initially urged scaling it back by a third.

Her statement -- issued, unusually, on Saturday following a Friday report by Bloomberg News on excerpts from the book -- illustrates the administration’s struggles to convey a unified front as the fastest inflation in 40 years severely threatens Democrats’ chances to retain their thin congressional majorities in November’s midterm elections.

“When President Biden assumed