Yellen on Polls, Falling Sentiment: 'Cost of Living in Many Areas Is Very High'

During an interview with Bloomberg on Monday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen responded to polling data on the economy and falling consumer sentiment by stating that “the cost of living in many areas is very high. And it is a concern to Americans and it is President Biden's top priority to do all he can to bring down the cost of living.”

Bloomberg host and Chief Political Correspondent Annmarie Hordern asked, “[W]hen you look at consumer sentiment, recent, on Friday, the Michigan survey, when you look at recent polls, inflation remains top of mind for American voters. How do you get them to potentially look at the way you look at how the economy is working?”

Yellen responded, “Well, the cost of living in many areas is very high. And it is a concern to Americans and it is President Biden's top priority to do all he can to bring down the cost of living. Why I'm here in Stafford County, though, is, it really illustrates one way in which that's going to occur. I'm looking at an area that has been deprived, has had really no access to the Internet at all, a sufficiently remote part of Virginia. And President Biden has made a commitment that every American household and business should have access to the Internet. And funds that were included in the American Rescue Plan that was passed in 2021, and, then, later, the bipartisan infrastructure bill, provided substantial funding to make sure that the Internet is available everywhere and that it's also affordable. And what we saw during the pandemic is that access to the Internet is critical to education, to jobs, to health care. And it's really a critical tool that every family needs to have access to. And so, making that available and making sure it's affordable, which is what I'm going to be seeing here today, a project that has succeeded in reaching about 700 households in this area, this is one way in which President Biden's working to lower the cost of living.”

She continued, “But there are many other areas, as well. Prescription drugs, brought down the cost of insulin to $35 a month, working very hard to bring down the cost of energy, at the same time, we're protecting the environment, and bolstering the finances of households by extending the child tax credit and earned income tax credit.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett

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