WASHINGTON: The US economy has been hurt by a recent budget standoff in Washington and it is important that the nation does not go through another around of brinkmanship, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said yesterday.
Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press” programme, Lew said he was confident the economy, which he described as resilient, would recover from the 16-day partial shutdown of the federal government.
He described events leading to the shutdown, which eroded both business and consumer confidence, as a political crisis rather than an economic one.
“We know that from the shutdown, there was a loss of economic activity,” Lew said. “We need to make sure that government does not go through another round of brinkmanship. This can never happen again.”
A last minute deal in Congress pulled the country from the edge of an unprecedented debt default. It restored government funding through Jan. 15 and extended its borrowing authority through February 7, though the Treasury Department might be able to stave off a default for several weeks past that point.
Reuters
