WASHINGTON—Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen denied that she tried to decrease the size of the $1.9 trillion rescue package Democrats approved in early 2021, defending legislation that is now a focus of debate about the causes of currently high inflation.
Ms. Yellen’s statement Saturday comes after Bloomberg News reported that a forthcoming biography about Ms. Yellen states that she had sought to lower the amount of spending in the legislation. In the book, titled “Empathy Economics,” author Owen Ullmann writes that Ms. Yellen harbored concerns that a $1.9 trillion package could fuel inflation, instead preferring a $1.3 trillion bill, according to excerpts of a pre-publication version of the book viewed by The Wall Street Journal.