Chris Usher/AP

Obama chief of staff: 'Congress needs to get its work done'

Jack Lew puts the ball in lawmakers' court on fiscal 2013 budget and payroll tax cut extension.

In a line the Obama administration has made clear will be one of its campaign slogans, new White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew on Sunday signaled how the White House will play both the extension of the payroll tax cut and the president’s fiscal 2013 budget request, to be released on Monday.

“Congress needs to get its work done,” Lew said on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday.

Lew made the news show rounds Sunday for the first time as Chief of Staff, a position he assumed this month after heading up the Office of Management and Budget for a little over a year and a half. And he weighed in on a variety of issues.

Early leaks indicate the president’s budget will emphasize infrastructure spending and promise the creation of some 2 million jobs while cutting $4 trillion from the deficit over the next decade.

Lew dismissed the suggestion that the infrastructure spending included looked like another stimulus plan. “I think most Americans understand that a crumbling infrastructure is not the way to build an economy that can last,” Lew said.

Lew repeatedly weighed in on the payroll tax fight in his TV appearances Sunday, a tax provision scheduled to expire at the end of the month. A congressional conference committee is currently trying to hash out the details of an agreement on a year-long extension, but has made little progress. Lew emphasized the importance of the extension, an issue the White House deftly handled in December as Republicans stumbled into a position that opposed a tax cut for the middle class.

“There’s not enough economic growth, but we're heading in the right direction,” Lew said on Fox News Sunday. “The question is, is Washington going to be part of the solution or part of the problem? That’s why it’s so important for Congress to pass the payroll tax cut extension this month, that's why it’s so important that we not have the kind of dysfunction that last year became part of the uncertainty that held back the economy.”

Lew also addressed the imbroglio provoked by the Obama administration’s decision last week to require employers to pay for health insurance plans that offer free birth control even if they disagree with it on religious grounds. Many have cast the move as an overreach that violates religious liberty.

“The president had two important goals here,” Lew said on ABC’s This Week. “One is to guarantee that every woman has a right to all forms of preventive health care, including contraception, secondly, that we do it in a way that respects the legitimate religious differences and the religious liberties that are so important in our country.”

Obama on Friday softened the rule, shifting the cost to health insurance companies rather than religious institutions, after loud backlash from elements of the Catholic Church. Lew said the new rule would “reconcile those two very important values.”

President Obama’s budget was quickly dismissed last year as an unrealistic political press release -- one that even Democrats voted against in the Senate, where it failed 0-97 -- and the White House hinted then that it was only trying to put out a marker before House Republicans put out their own budget. The budget battles that have dominated Congress since then have made deficit reduction a goal the president will have to adhere to -- or at least appear to prioritize. 

State of the Union host Candy Crowley suggested that the budget would be “attacked as a political document” that would simply lay the groundwork for Obama to say the GOP blocked job creation, even though Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said recently that the Senate didn’t need to pass a budget.

Lew countered that Reid was simply referring to the setting of caps on annual appropriations, which was already accomplished by the Budget Control Act passed in August 2011. “He’s not saying that they shouldn’t pass a budget,” Lew said.

“Unless Republicans in the House are willing to work with Democrats in the Senate,” Lew added, “Harry Reid is not going to be able to get a budget passed…but let’s be clear. There’s time and the desire to work together.”

Alexandra Jaffe contributed to this report.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.