Key ex-Obama adviser says Biden stimulus is too big

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Key ex-Obama adviser says Biden stimulus is too big
By Jonathan Easley - 02/05/21 10:56 AM EST

Larry Summers, the top economic adviser to former President Obama, warned in an op-ed on Friday that President Biden’s proposed COVID-19 relief package is too big and could overheat the economy.

Summers, the Treasury secretary under former President Clinton, wrote in The Washington Post that the proposed $1.9 trillion stimulus could ignite inflationary pressures “of a kind we have not seen in a generation.”

He said the risk of inflation could have “consequences for the dollar and financial stability.”

“Stimulus measures of the magnitude contemplated are steps into the unknown,” Summers wrote.

Summers’s remarks are notable because Biden has received almost no pushback from Democrats in pursuit of his legislation. Some progressives have griped about Biden not going big enough, but Democrats are largely united behind the bill.

Biden met with Republican senators this week pushing a scaled back $618 billion bill, but the administration and Senate Democrats have given every sign that they’re prepared to pass the $1.9 trillion stimulus without GOP support, if necessary.

The Summers op-ed is likely to be seized upon by conservatives who argue Biden and Democrats are preparing to spend too much. 

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https://thehill.com/policy/finance/537521-key-ex-obama-adviser-says-biden-stimulus-is-too-big