mr. lew has some big shoes to fill. mr. geithner obviously very respected on wall street and capitol hill. >> yeah, and again, sue, we will be debating the result of what was done in the early part of the financial crisis until we're both probably too old to debate. but we may be right now. who knows. >> no, we're not. speak for yourself. >> the point being is that i think it is not debatable that the earlier access taken did bring calm and were rather historic at the time and that tim geithner and the president by extension, along with hank paulson and even president george bush before him, deserve credit for bringing calm to the markets at that moment. i was struck, sue, by one thing. first of all, president obama really emphasizing the budget issues when it came to jack lew. not some of the other wisconsin ones that are thought to be his weakness. the other one was the sense that, it'll be a quiet treasury over there. even if geithner was not a very loud and boisterous one, it'll be a quiet -- >> kenny. >> i was struck b

timothy geithner is going to guided mr. lwe. -- mr. lew. if he'd just follows him a little bit but puts his own policy in there with the president and tweaks it a little bit, i think it will work out. host: there is the nominating ceremony that took place at the white house. timothy geithner on the right, and mr. lew on the screen. on at twitter there are some opposing viewpoints. james from birmingham, alabama on the democrats' line. caller: mr. timothy geithner is try to help the economy get back strong like before. a lot of people will look at this. host: tennessee, the independent line. just then. caller: i am finding myself have a hard time listening to these people call in and say these great things about timothy geithner considering the fact he came into his position 0 in $50,000 in taxes, which he failed at that juncture to pay. afterwards he was able to do so. had he not been put in that position, i asked myself if he would have been among the fat cats who did not have to pay taxes or any other number of things they have been shiel

lew was the architect of. i don't think that speaks well for a man who would take on the great position of treasury secretary. >> greta: president obama said that he had facilitated deals. he says that he has worked with republicans and democrats and president reagan and speaker o'neill and bill clinton and republican congress on the issue of a budget deal. i'm curious whether you agree he has brought two sides together and if so, where has that been at least in the last go-round, at least the last 18 months? >> well, this last fiscal cliff deal, he's chief of staff at the white house. he was involved in the negotiations. they went nowhere until senator mcconnell urged vice-president biden to get involved and that's when an agreement was reached. it wasn't jack lew that reached that agreement. he also, when he agreed to the budget spending reductions in front of the budget control act, 18 months ago, he proposed a budget, the next budget that they put forward wiped out 60% of those cuts, even though he'd agree

mr. lew's defenders call it aberration. not a creature of wall street but he did spend three level in high-level and high-paying jobs at citigroup where he oversaw unit that lost money and profited betting against the subprime mortgage. sequester, a lot of talk of the sequester and the cuts that will be debated ahead of the credit ceiling talks. across the board cuts. people forget it came from the white house, according to woodward's book "price of politics." at 2:30 p.m., jack lew and thous legislative affairs neighbors went to the meet with the senate majority leader and the chief of staff swept an idea for the trigger. what is the idea, reid asked skeptically? sequestration. lew and nains went through a laundry list of programs that faced cuts. this is ridiculous. that is the beauty of the sequester. it's so ridiculous no one wants it to happen. the bomb that no one wanted to drop. it was an action-forcing event. i get it, reid said finally. that's from bob woodward. back with the panel. a.b., jack lew? >> after what yo

mr. lew's problem is mr. obama has shown no interest in doing that either. many suspect sooner or later he will? witness the recent fiscal cliff association. higher income taxes on all taxpayers set by law to take effect january 1. mr. obama never considered letting it happen agreeing to let them rise on the 1%. although he let a two-year cut in social security payroll taxes expire as scheduled. weak growth is lower tax receipt. given the liberal views mr. lew and the president left themselves no good option for dealing with the dilemmas. mr. lew could make a start by telling the truth about taxes. but will he? bret? >> bret: brit, we talked about it before about the word "default" tossed around when talking about the debt ceilin ceiling. why do you think that the word is being kind of loosely used in this framework? >> default traditionally understood means failure to make payment on your debt. on your national debt. those payments account for 6% of the federal spending. tax receipt which would continue after a breach of the debt ceiling account for 60%. so

that's why i'm not growing to support mr. lew for the secretary of treasury. i am not going to vote for him. i believe he knew exactly what he was saying. he produced a budget that was panned by virtually every editorial board in america. they hammered it. as failing to meet the challenge of our time and he knew it was that way. he's not a person of -- who doesn't understand these issues. he knew what it was all about. but they decided they would go out and spin it this way. they would say it did what the american people wanted, and i hate to be this harsh. but there's only one conclusion: they decided they would produce a budget that changed the debt course of america none, leads us on an unsustainable path even our own -- their own numbers showed that but they would tell the american people this. and say it was fixed. and maybe lull them into a false sense of confidence. and then attack paul ryan, republican house, for producing a realistic budget -- it wasn't a dramatic budget, didn't even balance in ten years but changed us -- changed us and put us on suit

he acknowledged that the president's budget didn't put us on a sustainable path, but not mr. lew. he continued to spin and repeat those statemented and the president was running ads on it in september right before the election, saying the same thing, that his budget paid down the debt. it is absolutely not true. >> greta: is there anything jack lew could say at a hearing that would redeem him in your eyes? >> well, we would see. i mean, he will have an opportunity to do that. but fundamentally, from eating a little crow is not going to satisfy my feeling about it because i think he knew exactly what he was doing. he should have told the president, i cannot say that, mr. president. i will not say that. i valid to resign before i go out before the committee and try to promote such an idea that our budget is going to pay down the debt. >> greta: well, you have been quoted as saying he will never be secretary of the treasury. do you think that he won't be voted by the committee and voted -- confirmed by the senate? >> well, greta, i said that i felt he must never be. we will see, the

lew's confirmation, notably over a statement lew made two years ago. lew was then omb, office of management and budget director. "our budget will get us over the next several years to the point where we can look the american people in the money th speaking to this, senator sessions had this to say. "to look the american people in the eye and make such a statement remains the most direct and important false assertion during ng my entire t in washington, unquote. >> question is jacob lew a shoe- in for treasury secretary or does president obama have a fight on his hand? >> i don't know if you would call him a shoe-in. he is going to be touched up a bit by the republicans but he is going to be confirmed. does obama have a fight object his hands? you bet, but the fight is going to be over chuck hagel for secretary of defense. that is going to be a proxy battle between what you might call the know 0-conservatives, the bush ii folks, mccain, lieberman, lindsey graham, and the others and what hagel stands for, john, is non- interventionist foreign policy. we

that is all we've gotten from mr. lew. melissa: do you think you have the support, how hard will you fight? >> i'm going to do everything i can to raise this question that of whether or not in lieu we will have somebody who is willing to deal seriously with the great crisis of our time, which is our debt? all other issues this country faces are dwarfed by the threat of what, a debt crisis can do to america. melissa: yeah. >> and we really need a serious work toward that. they made a political decision in 2011, to, not confront the issue. to not deal with entitlements. to run and pretend there is no danger out there. and, he, even more so than geithner was the point person. melissa: hate to interrupt you. we have to run. i think we're having a little problem with your audio. thanks so much for coming on. we appreciate your time. >> thank you. melissa: next on "money" is jack lew extreme enough as senator sessions says to warrant republicans blocking his nomination in the senate? our all-star power panel is here to respond.

and mr. lew makes a lot of appearances, almost always in the role, when you see mr. obama and boehner making progress. he throws the monkey wrench and pretty much tanking the negotiations and makes him poison for republicans and a problem in his capacity as treasury secretary which sometimes does need to work with congress. >> paul: very different choice than treasury secretary. remember reagan had don regan first and jim bakker, and bob ruben of goldman sachs. this is a washington oriented pick. >> one of the things i find troubling about jack lew not so much his ideological east lansing are obviously going to reflect those of the president, but the treasury secretary should have a vision of what the largest economy in the world wants to do. >> paul: still. >>, but wants to do in terms of a vision, an international vision and jack lew has a, basically experience, keeping the books. even when he was at citibank, you know, his job was sort of an operations manager, even though he got a huge bonus right on the heels of the big bailout, but he doesn't have the experienc

i've never met mr. lew. i'm saying on qualifications, he has no markets standing, he has no financial standing or discussions, i don't know what he's going to do with the dollar which has fallen 10% over obama. and steve, i do judge him harshly as omb director. after all, the massive spending and deficit and debt creation, jack lew was presiding over all of that. >> yes, well, he reflects the beliefs of his boss. and i'm sure he's a nice guy, man of integrity, but he's wrong on the budget, wrong on taxes and wrong on the dollar. you're wrong in on those three things, it's not going to be a happy tenure. i couldn't care about his resume, as long as he was a smart guy that could get up to speed quickly with his international counterparts and alike. but he's wrong on the three most profound things out there. you know the dollar, the tax code, the spending, all contributing to the disastrous economy we have now. >> and on top of that -- howard dean, i've got to tell you, you may not agree with this either. okay.

alienated by the administration's first-term policies and mr. obama. but what they got is a guy -- not one of them, but does know the budget really well and the clearly the main challenge on the economic front for the first year is going to be on the fiscal front. insofar as jack lew has the trust of the president is in power to make deals, i would say that is is a positive. you do have to keep in mind he's not exactly the most trusted or liked person among republican on capitol hill. so that might actually make deal making a little bit rougher. >> jerry, what about all of these issues, you know, in washington. the debt ceiling fight that's on the horizon. is this going to impact the broad economy in the earning season, do you think? >> i guess this whole political thing is these are all the bricks in the wall of worry that equity markets are continuing to climb. you know, we know how to talk about these things, they're out there, in the media a lot. we follow them sometimes like a sport. maybe we exaggerate a little bit how much these political

lew? >> well, i think wall street and the business community would indeed have liked somebody who was perhaps of their own ranks. somebody like a jamie dymond or larry fink, who could build bridges between the business community, which feels a little bit alienated by the administration's first-term policies. and mr. obama. but what they got was a guy who, while not one of them -- at least does know the budget really well, and clearly the main challenge on the economic front for the -- first year is going to be on the fiscal front. so insofar as jack lew has the trust of the president has in power to make deals, i would say that's a positive. but you have to keep in mind, he's not exactly the most trusted or liked person among republicans on capitol hill so that make make deal making a little rougher. >> jerry, what about all these issues in washington, the debt ceiling fight on the horizon. is this going to impact the broad economy and the earnings season, do you think? >> i guess this who

i am more troubled about mr. mr. lew's ability to garner a single vote on capitol hill of. lou: already reminding us of lew's new seat. >> it didn't take long. lou: congressman, we appreciate you being here. congressman trey gowdy. we will have much more on the gun-control debate throughout this broadcast. president obama was against them before he was for them and now he has made the bush tax cuts permanent. or at least 90% of us. but the white house has gone silent on the middle-class tax hikes. that's tonight's "chalk talk." and obama and the constitution. the second amendment is under assault. will the president get away with it? peter johnson joins us lou: we continue our look on the white house assault on the second amendment. the president saying he can rule by fiat on what is a constitutional republic. i am joined by peter jackson. good to have you here. >> thank you for having me. lou: president has said that he will, if necessary, use executive order to control guns in this country. can he do so? >> i don't think there's any question that he will. i don't think th

a little more than four years ago, i stood with mr. tim geithner and denounced him as my first nominee to my cabinet. we were barely two months into the financial crisis. the stock market had greater and the housing market had cratered as well. bank after bank was on the verge of collapse. worst of all, more than 800,000 americans would lose their jobs in just that month. and the bottom was not yet in sight. i could not blamed him when he tried to tell me he was not the right guy for the job. [applause] but i knew that his extensive experience with economic policy made him qualified. i knew he could hit the ground running. he had just spent several sleepless and chaotic weeks emerged in the crisis and had been working closely with his republican predecessor to save the financial sector. then with the wreckage of our economy still smoldering and unstable, i asked him to help me put it back together. thanks in large part to his steady hand, our economy has been growing, our businesses have created nearly 6 million new jobs, the money we

i am more troubled about mr. mr. lew's ability to garner a single vote on capitol hill of. lou: already reminding us of lew's new seat. >> it didn't take long. lou: congressman, we appreciate you being here. congressman trey gowdy. we will have much more on the gun-control debate throughout this broadcast. president obama was against them before he was for them and now he has made the bush tax cuts permanent. or at least 90% of us. but the white house has gone silent on the middle-class tax hikes. that's tonight's "chalk talk." and obama and the constitution. the second amendment is under assault. will the president get away with it? peter johnson joins us next. this happy couple used capital one venture miles for their "destination wedding." double miles you can "actually" use. but with those single mile travel cards... [ bridesmaid ] blacked out... but i'm a bridesmaid. oh! "x" marks the spot she'll never sit. but i bought a dress! a toast... ...to the capital one venture card. fly any airline, any flight, anytime. double miles you can actually use. what a coincidence? wh

i just don't believe that is what we have in mr. lew. >> will you filibuster? >> intend to be aggressive in challenging his nomination and we will see how that goes in the weeks ahead. >> what are you hearing from your republican colleagues? i assume every democrat will vote to confirm and if they do, that's 55 if you add the two independent who is caucus with the democrats. 55 is more than enough. >> a number of our members have dealt with mr. lew in some of the negotiations. it has not been pleasant. er

i just don't believe that is what we have in mr. lew. >> will you filibuster? >> intend to be aggressive in challenging his nomination and we will see how that goes in the weeks ahead. >> what are you hearing from your republican colleagues? i assume every democrat will vote to confirm and if they do, that's 55 if you add the two independent who is caucus with the democrats. 55 is more than enough. >> a number of our members have dealt with mr. lew in some of the negotiations. it has not been pleasant. there is a feeling he is not been a positive force. i noticed bob wood ward in his book when they reached the budget control act in agreement on that, he was reported to have been obnoxious and disrespectful lecturing. it took if you recall vice president biden to finally move this debt and the fiscal cliff issue forward. i don't think he does have the kind of respectful valuation from republicans that you would like to see in the secretary of treasury. >> senator sessions, thanks very much for sharing your shoes. it will be a lively process to be sure. i think c

we have to see if mr. lew will have to do his as well. >> aig has been in the news a lot this week because of the shareholder lawsuit. >> congratulations aig is not suing not to join a shareholder lawsuit against the government and tax payer. which they receive add bailout. >> which they mapaid. >> the terms of the bailout were unfair to shareholders. even without aig's participation that will move forward. >> can the government just come in and grab a company and make itself own the company? that was another part of its lawsuit, too. >> tell us about this, facebook may be coming out with a phone of its own. >> it has been talked about in the past. media got an invite to facebook headquarters on tuesday. the invite said come and see what we are building. they have coached engineers from apple to work on that phone. it makes sense more than 150 million people access facebook on their mobile devices. those are twice as likely to be active. facebook shares went up by 5 percent they reached a level of $30 whic

mr. lew's reputation truly precedes him in this case. some in the senate as seeing him overly rigid -- the senate and the house on capitol hill see him overly rigid. wyoming senator john bros. sew is chairman of the foreign policy committee. nice to have you back on the program. >> thank you, jenna. jenna: i was looking at a report from bob woodward, speaker boehner apparently told woodward that he asked the president to keep jack lew at the white house, to not send him to capitol hill because he was tired of hearing the word "no" so many times. what's your reaction to this nomination if. >> well, jack lew is very partisan, and he's very political. but the fundamental problem, jenna, are are the president's policies and the president's addiction to spending. to me, that's the bigger issue. wewe are $16 trillion in debt, t is the greatest threat to our national security, and yet jack lew and the president think that spending isn't the problem. wasteful government spending is the problem. jenna: well, you've had four years of the president

mitch mcconnell is said to have been irked by mr. lew in the past. republican senator from nebraska, mike johanns called lew a controversial pick. the reasonable he is controversial is, quote, i think there are nick policies in this nation have been well received. and jack lew is in the middle of it. because democratic economic policies have not been well received by republicans in congress, and because jack lew once irked mitch mcconnell, he is, we're supposed to believe, not going to get the top tier cabinet position. we scoff in your general direction. if those do not sound like reasons substantive enough to block a presidential cabinet nomination, that is because those are not reasons substantive enough to block a presidential cabinet nomination. at least historically speaking, those are not the kind of things that keep a person out of a top tier job like that. as "the new york times" calculated today, in the history of the u.s. senate, the senate has confirmed over 500 cabinet nominations. over 500. it has denied nine out of more than 500 in gna

i said, mr. lew, give me your understanding of the role that wall street played in terms of deregulation and deregulation of wall street that helped cause this terrible recession? he didn't think so. most economists do think so. all of those issues concern me. jack lew is a decent guy and smart guy and knows the budget. i want people in the administration prepared to stand up for struggling working families and are prepared to deal with wall street, not simply come from wall street. >> sir, you're on record about jack lew. i want to get you on record about the breaking news that jay rockefeller announcing he's not going to seek another term come 2014. he's been a five-term senator from west virginia. what does this mean to the balance of power in the senate? >> well, i'm not an expert on the politics of west virginia. jay rockefeller has been a wonderful senator and very strong on a number of issues. he's going to be missed very, very much. and i hope that there will be a good candidate that can

. >> joining me is john harwood, a lot of nice compliments for mr. lew. we do we anticipate any trouble? we have heard one or two republicans expressing unhappiness with the selection. >> reporter: well, i just got a tweet from his former spokesman at omb which said that jack lew before the full senate for confirmation five times. not a single no vote so far. i would not expect that to be the case this time but i don't think there's a serious threat to the nomination. jack lew is confident, self effacing. he is easy to get along with. yes, a tough negotiator. some republicans didn't like that. yes, some republicans don't like president obama's economic policies. fair enough. that's not much of a reason to vote against him. i wouldn't expect much opposition. >> thank you very much, john. great pleasure fitting you in on that developing story, as well. >>> up next, have you heard this one? charlie rangel, harsh words earlier for the president over a lack of diversity in the president's inner circle. >> it's embarrassing as hell. we've been through all this

sessions has suggested he may filibuster the nomination. >> we need to know why mr. lew not only refused to produce a plan that would fix our debt problem but actually attack people like paul ryan who laid out a credible plan. >> i'm sorry to address a broken record with a broken record, but the paul ryan budget lost in the last election. >> slight detail. >> did that not happen? >> right. well, the republicans want to pretend like the election never took place. >> even now. >> we had a test of whether people wanted the ryan budget. that test showed that the american public stuck with barack obama and jack lew, who is his chief of staff. so, you know, jeff sessions, interestingly used to be a democrat. >> yes. >> if he can -- if he wants to try to lead a filibuster, we will have the mother of all battles in washington. it will make the chuck hagel nomination look like nothing because this guy, jack lew, is in the heart of the obama administration, and he represents barack obama better than basically anybody. not only did they correct when he was white house chief of

i would say mr. lew is being hoisted on obama's own petard. how much is lew going to pay for this politically? >> i think he is going to pay when it comes to capitol hill. he has to go through the senate and be confirmed. if you look at jack lew's career, it's easy to say he's a creature of government. worked in the obama administration, worked for tip o'neill back in the day. but when you look at his experience before he came to the government with the obama white house, he was at citi and got $1 million salary and $1 million bonus. this irks not only conservatives who think obama's being hypocritical to nominate someone this kind of banking background after wagging his finger at the wealthy all year. but almost frustrates and infuriates the left because they would like to see someone more progressive in the treasury role. >> more progressive. but what about this? he was the chief operating officer of a proprietary trading operation of about $54 billion. now, that has been outlawed under dodd/frank. so once again, i see hypocrisy from team ob

mitch mcconnell is said to have been irked by mr. lew in the past. republican senator from nebraska, mike johanns called lew a controversial pick. the reason he is controversial is, quote, i think there are nick policies in this nation have been well received. and jack lew is in the middle of it. because democratic economic policies have not been well received by republicans in congress, and because jack lew once irked mitch mcconnell, he is, we're supposed to believe, not going to get the top tier cabinet position. we scoff in your general direction. if those do not sound like reasons substantive enough to block a presidential cabinet nomination, that is because those are not reasons substantive enough to block a presidential cabinet nomination. at least historically speaking, those are not the kind of things that keep a person out of a top tier job like that. as "the new york times" calculated today, in the history of the u.s. senate, the senate has confirmed over 500 cabinet nominations. over 500. it has denied nine out of more than 500 in gnat se

i do not believe mr. lew is that person. it is worth noting, in 2008 jack lew oversaw one of the most controversial branches of citigroup and there has been -- we talked about it yesterday. we're talking about wall street and the white house and the university system being the military industrial complex of our time, quoting gabe sherman from "new york magazine" piece. there is a pipeline between this stuff, and when you have a treasury secretary that's setting monetary policy, should he be someone that is theoretically in could ka hoots with the street? >> that strikes me as a crazy attack from bernie sanders because lew -- it is true that lew wrote for citigroup. he is probably the most liberal group of the cabinet. he has spent his whole career on the left of the democratic party. you know, he is also a liberal a lot of republicans trust and have worked with and feel he is an honest person. he is a guy who, i mean, he has talked for a long time about the importance of, satisfy, the cuts to defense spending, which isn't so

lew. back to you. lori: rich, on a much lighter note, the president on a lighter note made fun of jack lew's signature. you know where i'm going with this with the loop de loop signature. could that signature appear on our currency or could jack lew craft it a little better, or at least to what the president said, make at least one letter legible? >> you know what? he will replace someone if he is confirmed who changed his signature as well. tim geithner, from the new york fed, if you look at some of the agreements the new york fed was entering into in 2007 and 2008, you see geithner's signature looks like nothing he has now. so lew's signature i think you saw there, if you can call it a signature which the president commented on, said he will have to work on that and the precedent if his guide he will work on it. lori: handwriting coach. geithner changed his signature too? i didn't know that. >> yep, yep. lori: rich, thank you. ever forget to change your medication? that is serious. well there's new t

lew has been the president's most partisan and implaquable negotiator. he no doubt reflects mr. obama, but no one should think he'll emerge at his own in the treasury." >> i think you want pick garrett ginslerin. if you wanted to make big changes in jobs and investment, it would have been a more -- >> the first fight, though, is taking on congress, and that's -- >> that's a point of making. >> and one of the reasons they don't like him, so many republicans, that in 2011 we had the budget fight then. jack lew really snookerred them, and structuring them in a way that were protective to all of the president's priorities. if that's what we're going -- we seem to be in a place where getting washington to function at a very basic level is the end game. people have to be judged not just on where they fit on rainbow but what they're like as public servants, and jack lew is a tremendously talented public servant. he has always protected the vulnerable. going back to his days for tip o'nei o'neill, he knows the budget better than anyone in washington. that's one of the reasons the republ

before that mr. lew worked as hostess as a cupcake icer. ♪ reach one customer at a time? ♪ or help doctors turn billions of bytes of shared information... ♪ into a fifth anniversary of remission? ♪ whatever your business challenge, dell has the technology and services to help you solve it. ♪ signed sealed and delivered i'm yours." >> you've been a friend and colleague for many years. it was only yesterday that i discovered that we both share a common challenge with penmanship. [ laughter ] >> i had never noticed jack's signature, and when this was highlighted yesterday in the press, i considered rescinding my offer to appoint him. jack assures me that he is going to work to make at least one letter legible. in order not to deface our currency. >> obama having some fun with his new pick for treasury secretary, jack lew. let's talk go that and the serious issues he'll deal with on the roundtable joined by begg from the wall. >> caller: al hunt from the bloomberg view, david walker, and paul krugman of "the new york times" and princeton. i'm going to take a stab at t

mr. sensenbrenner for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. nasa was created in the '50s in reaction to the soviet union launching sputnik one, which ignited a space race beginning with a directory program. nasa's focus on putting cubans into space serve as its most high profile and arguably the most exciting facet of the agency. .. i appreciate your comment on the stimulus act appropriated more funds in one act the in this country has spent on nasa since its creation in 1958 and the budgets of spending more and a sample of priorities. and in terms of having this see is the continued united states pre-eminence, not just in demand space programs but in terms of science and inventions and everything else that goes along with it, and it ended up being washed away in the flood of stimulus france. as this hearing has highlighted already, the president's approach to human spaceflight lacks a clear mission and he is relying on the success of commercial space, which i agreed is vital that has

poor mr. lew just nominated it is a very prestigious post. i have been in that room many times. it is a magnificent office but he might as well burn himself up in it. there is nothing to be done about this budgetary situation. the deficit is going to grow and grow until it eats us all alive. there is nothing to be done but accept things that are very uncomfortable. you have to laugh to keep from crying. >> congress for 20 years has only passed laws and made policies with an eye to getting reelected again. if you looked at congress as a stock 18% approval rating, least productive congress in history last year. they are just running up a bill. >> thomas jefferson predicted that the democracy would not last because politicians would vote to spend money in order to get themselves reelected. it is happening at a higher rate than it happened in the past. it is just a hopeless situation. we are going to finally have to have dramatically higher taxes on everyone, the middle class up to the rich and a dramatic cut in entitlements for upper and middle class. it has to happen. it is arithm

before he was chief of staff at the white house, mr. lew worked at hostess as a cupcake icer. if he is confirmed by the senate, his signature will be on all newly printed u.s. bills. it's about time our bills look like they're signed by a roomba. >> that's your signature? or are you just testing to see if the pen works? hey, lew, here's a tip, stop signing all your checks on the teacup ride at disney world. the only way you're allowed to have that as your signature is if you're name is boing-boing-boing. >> our future treasury secretary. >> i hope he has a good sense of humor. >> he betterme mbetter. "early start" sta "early start" continues right now. >>> sick day friday. doctors struggle to control a fierce flu outbreak spreading through offices and job sites. a school shooter into giving up. quite a hero this morning. good morning to you. welcome to "early start." we're happy are you with us. i'm zoraida sambolin. >> and i'm john berman. 6:00 a.m. in the east. we hope are you okay. because pretty much everyone we singh sick. a severe flu strain spreading fast and furious ac

george, is the markets going to be happy with mr. lew if that is indeed the case? >> well, we're in the middle of a fiscal kind of discussion. we got through the fiscal cliff. we still have to deal with the debt ceiling. we've surpassed legally the debt ceiling. now we're operating on these extraordinary measures. but it could be a critical decision. our focus on the economic team is critical given there's concerns over the long-term fiscal health of the company. overall, the markets are going to be cautious in thinking about, you know, it's an awkward time to be doing this transition, but it has to be done. >> yeah. meanwhile, i mean, we haven't seen treasury yields getting up to 1.9%. they have started to come back down, george. with that is 1.9, is that sort of the top of the range? if so, what is the range that we're now in? >> well, look, i think, you know, the market started out the year a little bit too worried about the fed minutes and thinking that the fed would take away stimulus and thinking that the fiscal cliff deal resolution was indicative of what st

jacob lew, and mr. denis mcdonough. [applause] >> thank you. thank you, everybody. please, everybody have a seat. good afternoon, everybody, and welcome to the announcement of one of the worst kept secrets in washington. [laughter]as president i rely on an extraordinary team of men and women here at the white house every single day, and i rely on my chief of staff to keep up with them and our entire permit, making sure we are all moving in the right direction, they can share my high 40s are being -- making sure that my priorities are being carried carried out, and that our policies are consistent with the commitments that have made to the american people and that are delivering progress to the american people. as i said earlier this month, i could not be more grateful to jack lew for his amazing service, first as our omb director, than at the state department, and ultimately as my chief of staff. as he prepares for confirmation hearings, and the challenge of leading our treasury department, i am pleased to announce my next chief of staff, and a great friend to me, a