Yellen says never urged for adopting smaller COVID-19 relief package

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she never urged for the adoption of a smaller COVID-19 relief package, rebutting a media report in which a biographer was quoted as claiming that she asked officials to scale back the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan by a third.

"I never urged adoption of a smaller American Rescue Plan package, and I believe that ARP played a central role in driving strong growth throughout 2021 and afterwards," Yellen said in a statement on Saturday.

Bloomberg on Friday quoted an advance copy of a biography on Yellen, written by journalist Owen Ullmann, who said that she was worried that "too much government money was flowing into the economy too quickly."