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Batchelder confirmed as next Assistant Treasury Secretary for tax policy

September 22, 2021

The Senate on September 22nd confirmed Lily Batchelder to be the next Assistant Treasury Secretary for tax policy. The vote was 64-34.

This senior advisor position works closely with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Members of Congress to analyze and draft legislation and implement tax policies.  

Batchelder comes to Treasury after being a tax professor at NYU law school, but she is no stranger to Washington. She worked in the Obama Administration as Deputy Director of the White House National Economic Council. Prior to this position, she was the Chief Tax Counsel for the Democratic side of the Senate Finance Committee.

During the debate of the 2017 tax reform bill, Batchelder, who taught at NYU at the time, testified before the Senate Finance Committee. She called on lawmakers to use reform to make the tax code more progressive and increase the revenue raised by the federal government.

“Tax reform should increase revenues and should increase progressivity. Doing so would boost economic growth and make the tax code fairer at the same time,” she told the panel.  

Batchelder will join the Treasury Department as Democrats in Congress face several hurdles in passing President Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better” economic agenda.  Part of the president’s plan seeks to increase taxes on corporations and wealthier individuals.

If Biden’s plan is enacted into law, Batchelder will likely play a key role in turning the legislative text into regulations.

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About the Author

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Jay Heflin

Legislative Director
Jay brings more than two decades of legislative experience to his job as Assistant Director of Tax Legislative Affairs in Eide Bailly’s Washington D.C. office. In his current position, Jay provides political intelligence and tax legislative guidance to the firm on the progress of tax legislation on Capitol Hill. Prior to joining the firm, he was a director at the tax lobbying shop Federal Policy Group, LLC, where he tracked tax legislation in Congress and participated in lobbying efforts to amend tax legislation. Before joining the Federal Policy Group, he was a Congressional reporter for several news organizations where his beat was tax policy. Prior to becoming a reporter, Jay worked as an accountant where he prepared several tax returns. He graduated from Butler University with a B.S. in Accounting.