Treasury Secretary Yellen celebrates legislative achievements, looks to future at Ford plant

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen made a robust defense of the Biden administration's economic agenda in a wide-ranging speech Thursday delivered at Ford Motor Co.'s Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn that touched on legislation to provide economic relief for working families, combat climate change and bolster domestic electric vehicle production.

Her remarks followed a tour of the production line where workers assemble the all-electric F-150 Lightning truck.

She began by celebrating a trio of recently enacted legislative measures − the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, CHIPS and Science Act and Inflation Reduction Act − she said represent "the most significant investments" in the country's economic future and will ensure the U.S. moves to a "fairer and more resilient" economy.

The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the threats posed by long-standing economic issues in the U.S., including inequality, dependence on foreign supply chains and economic growth primarily concentrated in just a handful of places, she said.

"The pandemic exposed our vulnerabilities," she said.

"During the pandemic, I heard heartbreaking stories about parents who drove every day to parking lots with WiFi so their children could complete their homework online," she said, highlighting the country's digital divide as an example of the disparities exposed by the pandemic.

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She characterized the Biden administration's approach in the wake of the pandemic as "pro-growth" and "pro-fairness."

"In layman's terms, this approach embraces the notion that some of the best opportunities for growth occur when we invest in people and places that have been forgotten and overlooked," Yellen said.

"To me, fairness is a goal of policy. It's also a moral issue. But progress has been elusive. Long before the virus arrived, we were living in an economy where wealth built upon wealth, and a growing number of working families and communities were being left behind," she said.

Shortly after President Joe Biden entered office, Democrats in Congress passed the American Rescue Plan, which authorized billions in relief to help businesses, schools and governments recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Republicans have blamed the legislation for fueling inflation, but Yellen said that when Biden signed it into law, the future trajectory of the economy and the COVID-19 pandemic were uncertain and that it helped facilitate the "fastest pace of job creation in our history" and a "broad and inclusive" economic recovery.

Yellen acknowledged that inflation stands among the gravest challenges working Americans face today. She said that while the Biden administration has already provided cost relief to American families on things like gas and health care expenses, the administration's priority heading into the fall is to achieve "stable prices without sacrificing the economic gains of the past two years."

During her remarks, she also zeroed in on federal investments in the auto industry, touting the Biden administration's recent legislative victories to ramp up domestic production of semiconductors and electric vehicles.

The Inflation Reduction Act — which Biden signed into law last month — includes a potential tax credit of up to $7,500 for those buying electric vehicles made in North America. It also includes $10 billion for clean technology plants and $2 billion to transform existing auto plants to manufacture electric vehicles. The bill passed along party lines in the U.S. House and Senate without the support of a single Republican lawmaker.

She also celebrated the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act which includes about $52.7 billion in grants over five years to boost domestic production of semiconductor chips. Along with every Democratic member of Michigan's congressional delegation, two Michigan Republicans − U.S. Reps. Fred Upton of St. Joseph and Peter Meijer of Grand Rapids − voted for the CHIPS and Science Act.

The measure also garnered support from an auto industry plagued by a chips shortage in recent years that led to idle plants, temporary layoffs and cars and trucks sitting on lots unable to head to dealerships. "Our plan, which is powered by the CHIPS Law, provides around $40 billion in incentives to onshore semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S.," Yellen said.

"In the coming months, we expect to see significant movements of private capital into growing industries such as clean energy production and semiconductor fabrication," she said. According to Yellen, some semiconductor manufacturers have already announced expansions in the U.S. since the law's passage.

The law also sets aside $2 billion to bolster chip production specifically for the auto industry and Detroit automakers applauded its passage.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law also commits billions to build charging stations across the U.S. for electric vehicles.

Yellen spoke at a time of transition for Ford into the electric vehicle future, which has included layoffs at the company.

The automaker shared last month plans to cut thousands of salaried workers, most of them in Michigan. The move came just months after Ford executives joined state lawmakers to announce and celebrate a $100 million taxpayer-funded incentive to create 3,200 new hourly jobs in Michigan to expand the company’s electric vehicle production. Ford’s electric vehicle sales were up fourfold last month compared to the same time last year.

Republicans came out ahead of Yellen’s visit to denounce her defense of Biden’s economic agenda, saying the president continues to steer the nation in the wrong direction.

"This visit rings as hollow as the Democrats' so-called inflation reduction act, which included billions of dollars in climate subsidies while failing to adequately address inflation," said Michigan GOP communications director Gustavo Portela in a statement Thursday.

Speaking to reporters by phone midday Thursday, U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Holland, and state Sen. Tom Barrett, R-Charlotte, who is running for a mid-Michigan congressional seat this fall, said Democrats are still pushing policies – like student loan forgiveness and incentives for companies like Ford to sell more electric vehicles – that the Republicans say will spur higher inflation, not bring prices down for working families.

Hammering home a line he has taken in the state Senate, Barrett again chastised state and local officials for doling out incentives to companies that later cut back jobs. "Before the ink is dry, they are announcing they are laying off 3,000 workers," Barrett said of Ford, adding that the money is better spent on infrastructure, lowering energy costs and attracting job talent.

Meanwhile, the Michigan Democratic Party celebrated Yellen's visit to Detroit ahead of her speech. "Secretary Yellen's visit today makes clear that Democrats are delivering results for our state while Republicans don't have a single plan to help working people besides voting against the legislation helps," Michigan Democratic Party spokesperson Alyssa Bradley said in a statement.

Biden will also visit Michigan soon with plans to attend the North American International Auto Show next Wednesday.

Clara Hendrickson fact-checks Michigan issues and politics as a corps member with Report for America, an initiative of The GroundTruth Project. Make a tax-deductible contribution to support her work at bit.ly/freepRFA. Contact her at chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743. Follow her on Twitter @clarajanehen.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Yellen issues sweeping defense of Biden administration's economic plan