By Ariel Zambelich, NPR
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew says there isn’t much time. Congress and the White House face two big deadlines to fund the government. It will be an intricate maneuver to meet both deadlines even as congressional leadership changes. And in an interview with NPR, Lew described behind-the-scenes negotiations meant to avert a last-minute crisis.
“There are conversations going on at a staff level,” Lew told NPR’s Steve Inskeep, “and I think the key is for Democrats and Republicans [in Congress] to talk to each other.”
From his office at the Treasury Department, Lew commented on the challenge of doing what should be the routine business of government. A Congress that was never designed to act quickly, and that’s been made dysfunctional by partisanship, must resolve multiple problems within weeks.