Janet Yellen touts economic progress in NC visit, but acknowledges continued anxiety on prices

U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen (right) visits Wake Technical Community College's campus in Wendell, North Carolina on Sept. 5, 2024. (Photo: Galen Bacharier)

U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen told North Carolina business and education leaders Thursday that concerns about the cost of living were still at the top of Americans’ minds, as she touted the Biden administration’s spending on energy and manufacturing.

“Unemployment remains near historic lows. Inflation has significantly declined,” Yellen said in a speech at Wake Technical Community College’s East campus in Wendell. “But our administration knows that prices for key household expenses like health care, housing and energy are still too high. Bringing down the costs of those essentials is our administration’s top priority.”

She focused in particular on clean energy and home energy efficiency tax credits — packed into 2022’s Inflation Reduction Act spending bill — as a means to expand manufacturing and electric vehicle use in North Carolina and nationally. According to Treasury data, she said, more than 90% of energy investment from the bill in North Carolina has gone to counties with below-average income and college graduation rates.

Republicans, all of whom voted against the bill, have continued to rail against its provisions on energy and climate and pledged to roll them back if they take control in Congress. Yellen warned that doing so would be a “historic mistake” in North Carolina.

“Rolling them back could raise costs for working families at a moment when it’s imperative that we continue to take action to lower prices,” Yellen said. “It could jeopardize the significant investments in manufacturing we’re seeing here and across the country, along with the jobs that come with them, many of which don’t require a college degree. And it could give a leg up to China and other countries that are also investing to compete in these critical industries.”

Yellen, previously the chair of the Federal Reserve, got behind the wheel of an electric Ford Mustang Mach-E, with North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper riding shotgun. After speaking at Wake Tech, she ate at Sam Jones Barbecue before addressing the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce board.

Her visit marks the latest in North Carolina by a Cabinet secretary in the Biden administration, as the White House seeks to drive up awareness of its legislative accomplishments ahead of the November election. U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm also joined Cooper last month to speak about energy investments, while U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg visited for a groundbreaking on a new rail project.

The economy and costs of living — including that of housing — remain of top concern to voters heading into the final months of the presidential election cycle. Vice President Kamala Harris, during a speech in Raleigh last month , outlined an economic plan that encourages new housing to be built, expands tax credits and proposes banning corporate price gouging. Yellen echoed those priorities on Thursday.

“We’re using every tool at our disposal to try to create greater housing supply,” Yellen told bank and business leaders at the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce.