Janet Yellen on debt ceiling
From Janet Yellen on US Debt Ceiling, Banking System, China · · Bloomberg Television
“All I can say is that there is no satisfactory solution for the United States. A solution will be good for the economy and financial markets other than Congress acting to raise the debt ceiling through potential different paths that could be taken if that doesn't happen. But there is not a single thing that can be done that will save the United States from considerable economic and financial damage.”
On , Janet Yellen, United States Secretary of the Treasury at United States Treasury, spoke about debt ceiling during Janet Yellen on US Debt Ceiling, Banking System, China on Bloomberg Television.
About Janet Yellen
Janet Yellen, who served as Treasury Secretary under President Biden and previously chaired the Federal Reserve, has been publicly commenting on the Trump administration's economic policies and their impact on the Federal Reserve's independence. In January 2026, Yellen described a criminal investigation launched by the Trump Justice Department into Fed Chair Jerome Powell as "extremely chilling" for Fed independence, stating that she believes the administration is "weaponizing" the Department of Justice to go after people it disagrees with. She said the probe is "really about wanting to intimidate Fed leadership to be able to control monetary policy decisions, to bend monetary policy to the president's will." Yellen also commented on President Trump's removal of Fed Governor Lisa Cook, calling it "a pretext to justify an autocratic power grab." Yellen has also been critical of the Trump administration's tariff policies. In April 2025, she described the tariff program as "the worst self-inflicted wound" she has ever seen imposed on a well-functioning economy, and said the rationale for the tariffs was "unclear and not at all sensible." She estimated that the tariffs could cost the average American household around $4,000 per year. Yellen has also commented on the national debt and fiscal policy. In exchanges with Senator John Kennedy, she defended the Biden administration's budget proposals, stating that the president's budget "has improved the fiscal outlook relative to what we would have without the president's proposals" and that "revenue increases far exceed proposed investments." She also stated that she does not expect the overall level of prices to go down to pre-pandemic levels, but argued that because wages have risen, the median worker can buy the same basket of goods as in 2019 with $1,400 left over.