Jack Lew says Obama open to 'reasonable discussion'

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew continued on Sunday to shift the blame on Republicans in Congress for threatening to default the U.S. debt in a heated exchange with Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace, who repeatedly questioned him on why the president was “digging his feet into the ground.”

"Congress needs to make it possible for us to pay our bills," Lew said. "I'm saying the president wants to negotiate. He wants to negotiate in good faith."

"Congress needs to do its job, and we then need to negotiate. The president has taken many steps over the last several years to show his willingness to negotiate. He's done it with Democrats saying he's too eager to negotiate. Now, Republicans have not come forward and made comparable movement."

"We're open to negotiation," Lew said. "The president has been, is, and will always be open to reasonable discussion."

Although other issues have been attached to budget debates in the past, Lew said a party had never threatened to default before 2011.

"You know, Chris, I lived through the budget debates of the 1980s, the 1990s, the early 2000s," Lew said. "I know that there were many occasions when the debt limit was tacked on to other things. I actually remember when the debt limit was used as a deadline, an action-forcing event."

"It was different in 2011. In 2011, you had 50 to 100 members of the House who said, 'if we don't get our way, we would rather see the default of the United States,' and that was different. It was different. “

Lew also said said that House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) should take action, even without having majority support for it within his party.

"I know John Boehner. We have a good relationship. I've talked to John Boehner. I know he doesn't want to default. He also didn't want to shut the government down," Lew said. "And here we are with a government shutdown. There's a majority in Congress that would vote to do the right thing, and the majority needs to be given the chance to work its will."