Jack Lew: Congress Accepts White House Debt-Limit Deadline

Photo Credit: AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta

Photo Credit: AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said lawmakers had accepted the administration’s deadline for raising the nation’s debt ceiling and that he expected Congress to act before Feb. 7.

“They need to act in that window,” Lew said of Congress, warning that “extraordinary measures” he was employing to avoid a default would run out next month.

He added that while there had been some confusion among lawmakers about when the Treasury would hit its borrowing limit, that had now been resolved.

“I think they’ve accepted the deadline,” the secretary told reporters aboard Air Force One, as he accompanies President Obama to an event in Pittsburgh, where they will tout new “MyRA” retirement accounts announced in Tuesday’s State of the Union speech.

In a letter to Congress last week, Lew said he would no longer be able to take steps to avoid a default by the end of February and told lawmakers they needed to act earlier in the month to provide a cushion. The revised date pushed up the deadline, which Lew had initially projected to fall in early March.

Read more from this story HERE.