Yellen dismisses reports she’s leaving administration

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen dismissed recent reports in the media on Tuesday that she would be leaving the Biden administration.

Yellen shut down the rumor at the 2022 Freedman’s Bank Forum in Washington, D.C., when Washington Post columnist and MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart asked her about the future as Treasury head.

“There are also reports that … you might leave as Treasury secretary at some point in the near future,” Capehart asked Yellen. “Any truth to that?” 

“There is no truth to that,” Yellen replied. 

Axios reported last week that the Biden administration was preparing for Yellen to step down from her role after the midterm elections next month. The news outlet also noted the possible exit of National Economic Council Director Brian Deese.

In response to the speculation, Deese said last week that he doesn’t have plans to leave his position with the Biden administration, according to Bloomberg News. 

“I’ve got no plans to leave and I’ve got my head down and certainly fully, fully absorbed in what we’re doing,” Deese said. 

Bloomberg also reported that Yellen told White House officials that she plans to remain in her position after the midterm elections. 

The news from Yellen comes after the IRS became the source of controversy following the passage of Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act.

The legislation, which was signed by President Biden, allotted $80 billion to the IRS in order to increase revenue over the next 10 years. Republicans railed against the provision, arguing that the funding would be used to hire tens of thousands of IRS “agents” and that an increase in audits would target middle-income Americans.

Democrats and Yellen have pushed back on these assertions, writing in a letter to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig that audit rates should not “rise relative to recent years for households making under $400,000 annually.”