BOSTON - His turbulent tenure as president of Harvard University well behind him, former treasury secretary Lawrence Summers is still considered an important voice in setting the nation's economic course.
Members of Congress are being particularly attentive to Summers's views as they consider economic stimulus plans to help jump-start the economy.
"Fiscal stimulus is the single biggest issue on the economic policy agenda of the president, Republicans, and Democrats, and it was put on the agenda by Summers," said Jason Furman, director of the Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based public policy organization.
Summers was invited to testify yesterday to a congressional committee on an economic stimulus plan. He said Congress should pass a stimulus bill of up to $150 billion.
Summers is now an economics professor at the Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
