WASHINGTON—On Thursday, April 11, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on President Obama’s FY2014 budget proposal. As a member of the Ways and Means Committee, Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins questioned Secretary Lew on how the president’s budget will affect the federal government’s ability to pay our nation’s bills. Below is an excerpt from the hearing:

Rep. Jenkins: What year does the budget balance?

Secretary Lew: It’s in the 2050s; it’s quite a while away.

Rep. Jenkins: Is it safe to say under the president’s budget, in our lifetime, we will never stop spending more money than we take in?

Secretary Lew: I think the question is not when we will balance, it’s when do we have our budget in a place where it is affordable, and we can pay our bills.

Rep. Jenkins: And that is not in our lifetime… What date do you think it would be before we pay off the debt that we owe?

Secretary Lew: I’d have to look it up. It’s obviously very far in the future.

Rep. Jenkins: Would you recommend that small businesses in my district do business this way—to rack up debt and have no clue when they could pay it off?

Secretary Lew: Governments are different than businesses…

To watch more of Congresswoman Jenkins’ conversation with Secretary Lew, please click on the photo below.

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