Yellen to visit Boston to tout clean energy tax credit benefits

By David Lawder

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will travel to Boston on Wednesday in another trip to promote the benefits of the Biden Administration's clean energy tax credits for the economy ahead of the start of the 2024 presidential nominating contests.

Yellen will make remarks at Roxbury Community College's Center for Smart Building Technology, where she will see a range of energy efficiency upgrades expected to save the school up to $800,000 on its energy bills, the Treasury said in a statement.

She will be joined by Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu on the visit, which follows Yellen's Nov. 30 trip to North Carolina to tour a lithium processing plant that is benefiting from tax subsidies approved in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.

President Joe Biden has struggled to win voter confidence in his handling of the economy amid persistently high inflation over the past two years that has recently eased. Yellen said on Friday that if inflation continues to slow and wages grow for a sustained period, Americans will "feel good about their future prospects."

In her Boston remarks, Yellen "will discuss the Biden Administration's efforts to lower energy bills and costs for families through the Inflation Reduction Act and prepare the clean energy workforce for good-paying jobs that don't require a college degree in growing fields like home electrification and energy efficiency," the Treasury said.

She will highlight Roxbury Community College's programs in residential and commercial building efficiency and building optimization and automation, it said. Many such energy upgrades are eligible for tax credits under the climate-focused Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed despite solid opposition by Republicans in Congress.

(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Paul Simao)