Rancor on Debt Ceiling Hurting the Economy: Loews CEO

As Washington politicians bicker about raising the debt ceiling and making a meaningful attempt to curb the country's deficit, the economy is suffering, Loews CEO James Tisch told CNBC's "Power Lunch" on Thursday.

"My view is the rancor means the economy just can't get going at full steam," Tisch said. "We've been growing at about 2 percent a year for the past two years, and it looks like it will continue doing that."

While the economy is growing, it's not expanding fast enough to release business's animal spirits, Tisch said.

"Overall, we don't see business investing because there isn't the growth in final demand that they need to see in order to make those investments," he said.

But for Loews, which has insurance, hotel, and oil and gas subsidiaries, there are opportunities to invest.

Tisch said that as other hotel companies pull back, Loews is expanding. The company's Diamond Offshore Drilling business is also seeing demand.

Returning to the debate over the debt ceiling, Tisch said Republicans should avoid using its as leverage to force spending cuts. He favors using the sequester of automatic spending cuts as a way to get the two sides to negotiate.

(Read More: Why the Debt Ceiling Is Scarier Than the 'Fiscal Cliff')

"Instead of us lurching from one short-term solution to the next, hopefully, they'll be able to do something that can last more than three or six months," Tisch said. "It'll be good for everyone. It'll be especially good for the economy."