Yellen’s encore: Lending economic heft to Biden’s virus plan

Yellen’s encore: Lending economic heft to Biden’s virus plan

WASHINGTON (AP) “” On a cold, gray February afternoon, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stepped out of the West Wing wrapped in a puffy black parka and clutching a folder of documents, seemingly oblivious to the Washington custom of having an aide schlep the paperwork. Viewed as an outsider to partisan politics, she now has a place in President Joe Biden's inner sanctum, a Ph.D. economist who does the reading, knows the numbers and treats her staff as peers rather than underlings.Yellen, entourage in tow, had been at the White House to strategize about how to push through Biden's proposed $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan -- a package that could determine how quickly the U.S. economy heals, how the Democrats fare in the midterm elections and just how much Americans can trust the government to solve the nation's toughest problems. ADVERTISEMENTThe House passed the package Saturday, sending it to the Senate.As a former chair of the Federal Reserve, Yellen carries the authority of a public servant who has already helped steer the economy back to health once and now has been called back at age 74 for an encore after former President Donald Trump declined to offer her another term as