United States Treasury Secretary Jack Lew appeared on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Sunday to discuss the economic outlook for the United States after the 2013 United States federal government shutdown.
“It’s important to remember that what we just went through was a political crisis, not an economic crisis,” Lew said regarding the government shutdown. He added, “Admittedly at the 11th hour, a strong bipartisan majority in the house and senate stood for the principle that is so important: that you cannot take a risk with the full faith and credit of the United States.”
David Gregory, moderator of “Meet the Press” asked if there was economic damage sustained by the United States because of the Shutdown, in Lew’s opinion.
“Unfortunately, we learned in 2011 that when you get close to the edge, it does do some damage,” Lew said. However he added, “We have a resilient economy. I’m confident our economy can recover.”
As for actual economic damage sustained by the government shutdown, Lew noted that borrowing costs went up in the short term and there was a certain loss of economic activity. However he couldn’t give an exact number.
“The direction is [the government shutdown] took an economy that is fighting hard to get good economic growth to create jobs for the American people and it took it in the wrong direction,” Lew said.
He added, “This one was a little bit scary because it got so close to the edge.”
“I think what we need to do here in Washington is to go from the coming together on Wednesday night where we saw a strong bipartisan majority do the right thing and make progress from there – show that we can work together,” Lew said.
He cautiously added a warning against another shutdown, "It can't happen again."
Take a look Secretary Lew’s interview from “Meet the Press” in the video above.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew On Government Shutdown Aftermath: 'It Can't Happen Again' [VIDEO]
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