Jack Lew Quotes

"The budget is not just a collection of numbers, but an expression of our values and aspirations."

"I think there's no higher calling in terms of a career than public service, which is a chance to make a difference in people's lives and improve the world."

"If you look at the cost of providing health insurance, it actually doesn't cost more to provide a plan with contraceptive coverage than it does without."

"Taxpayers can go online and find out more about the way their government works than ever before."

"I think that for the next short period of time, our No. 1 priority is Congress needs to do its work and extend the payroll tax cut."

"Every president since George Washington has taken executive privilege seriously. Every Republican president has."

"We have to reduce the burden placed on our economy by years of deficits and debt."

"There's a lot of trust being built up. I think we have a lot of work ahead of us."

"We obviously would like to get unemployment as low as we possibly can."

"Congress should get the job done."

"The reason to deal with Social Security is that it is a system where we have a tradition and history of making sure it is solidly funded for 75 years. At the moment, we look out and we see it is solidly funded until 2037."

"There is a very serious fiscal-policy question of, 'Are we running our overall fiscal policy such that we as a government can pay our bills?'"

"It is time for the general fund to pay the Social Security fund back."

"The transition from tyranny to democracy is very hard. The Syrian people have to handle this in a way that works in Syria. And the brutality of the Assad regime is unacceptable."

"I think there is a shared sense of urgency in Washington on fiscal issues."

"If you don't define the problem you'll never reach a painful solution."

"It's going to be true that anything that reduces the federal deficit will have somebody unhappy."

"I think the thing that the American people want is for the divisive debate on health care to stop."

"Most Americans want health insurance."

"If you have a student who graduates from college and they don't have a job, they are now able to stay on their family health plan."

"I can't speak to the differences within the Catholic Church."

"Europe is trying to get its fiscal house in order."

"Raising the debt limit on some levels is a ministerial act. It doesn't involve any new spending."

"Businesses make decisions based on what they are seeing in their order books."

"Historically, the responsibility for voting on the debt limit has gone to the party in the majority."

"I think it's very important not to confuse the importance of dealing with Social Security in the long term with these short-term deficit reduction challenges. They're different issues."

"There are lots of ways to work together."

"I've never seen a constructive Social Security debate that started with one side digging in, in one place and another side digging into another."

"I've been really privileged to work for two presidents - President Obama and President Clinton - who are both people of faith, who value faith, and who respect that others have the same feelings in their own lives."