Patrick McHenryChairman

Washington, January 10, 2013 - Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling today released the following statement on President Obama’s nomination of Jack Lew to be Treasury Secretary:

“I congratulate Mr. Lew on his nomination, but changing the nameplate on the door of the Treasury Secretary’s office won’t improve our economy or save our nation from impending bankruptcy.  That can only happen with a needed change in this administration’s economic policies.  Our nation is now $16 trillion in the red.  Sadly, a third of our historic debt was compiled under this administration – more debt than was accumulated in our first 200 years combined.  We find ourselves in the midst of a spending-driven debt crisis, one that threatens our national security, our economic well-being and our children’s future.

“President Obama has gotten his tax increases and now it’s time for him and Mr. Lew, if confirmed, to focus on the need to cut spending – the other side of the President’s so-called ‘balanced approach’ to debt reduction. 

“If confirmed, I invite Mr. Lew to work with us to reduce taxpayer risk in the mortgage marketplace, end the phenomenon of ‘too big to fail’ that was codified in the Dodd-Frank Act, and cut the sheer weight, volume, complexity and uncertainty of the federal red tape burden that makes capital more expensive and less available.”