Infrastructure plan could help US keep up with China on battery storage: Yellen

The energy infrastructure portion of President Biden's American Jobs Plan will help the US stay competitive with China in battery storage technology development and aid the transition to greater use of renewable resources, Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen said May 18.

During the US Chamber of Commerce's Global Forum on Economic Recovery, Yellen faced a skeptical audience in promoting the $2 trillion legislation, largely because of the proposal to cover some of the cost with higher corporate taxes.

The initiative includes a $300 billion investment in American manufacturing, which would include funding that supports offshore wind, transmission, and development of an electric vehicle supply chain. The plan also calls for demonstration projects on hydrogen and carbon capture — the latter is increasingly being promoted by US LNG terminal developers as a way to make their projects more environmentally friendly.

"Public investments not only create good jobs, they also increase the value of our existing resources," Yellen said.

In response, Chamber of Commerce CEO Suzanne Clark said the business group supports the administration's desire to champion infrastructure, but it believes there are other ways to finance the legislation.

"The proposed tax increases would greatly disadvantage US businesses and harm American workers," Clark said. "And now is certainly not the time to erect new barriers to economic recovery."

In her prepared remarks to the forum and in her immediate response to Yellen, Clark did not cite specific ways the legislation could be paid for that the chamber would support.

Yellen, a former chair of the Federal Reserve, said that while Washington gridlocks, the US is falling further behind China in innovation, especially when it comes to energy infrastructure. She cited battery storage research and development as one example.

"This administration is acting and will make up for lost time," Yellen said.

She added that she believes that the government should play a "more active and smarter role in the economy," and infrastructure is one way it can serve that purpose.

"We're promoting more investment to make our economy more competitive and sustainable," Yellen said.