WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew saidThursday that he is optimistic that President
Barack Obama will be ableto reach an agreement with Republicans in Congress to break a budgetimpasse that’s
triggered across-the-board government spending cuts.Lewsaid Obama has been "deeply engaged over the
past week in trying toopen the door for conversations" with lawmakers in the search for a"sensible
center."Lew, who served as budget director for Obamaand also in the Clinton administration, said he
expected to be "verymuch involved in the conversations.""I think there is a
broadunderstanding of the size of the problem," Lew said. "There’s even abroad understanding of
what an ultimate solution probably looks like,but we need to figure out the path to get from here to
there."Lewspoke to reporters after touring a Siemens AG manufacturing plantoutside Atlanta. It was his
first trip since being sworn in as Treasurysecretary last month.Asked in an interview with CNBC whether
hethought an agreement could end the automatic budget cuts that tookeffect March 1, Lew said it was too
early to say what the agreementmight entail. But he said all agree that the government cuts, which
willreduce spending by $1.2 trillion over a decade, pose a threat to theeconomy."I think there are
better alternatives, and we have alittle bit of time," Lew said. "The conversation is engaged now,
and Ihope over the coming weeks and months that we can work through thisproblem."Obama traveled to
Capitol Hill this week to meet with Democratic and Republican lawmakers in both the House and Senate.Lewsaid
those conversations and discussions he had with senators duringhis confirmation hearing led him to conclude
that "there is a growingnumber of members on a bipartisan basis who want to do
somethingsensible."___AP writer Johnny Clark in Atlanta contributed to this report.Copyright 2013 The
Associated Press.