Jacob J. Lew: “Obviously, when you put policies in that have demonstrable benefit to middle-class families, that is what reflects what…”

I believe it is a crisis. I believe there is a need for action immediately on restructuring authority and on oversight.

This agreement demonstrates that we have the capacity to find common ground on difficult issues and lays a foundation for addressing some of our long-term challenges.

I have always thought that the sooner we could have a bipartisan conversation on dealing with Social Security, the better.

We can't just cut the things that we need to grow in order to reduce the deficit more in the short run.