By Sheila Mullan
NEW YORK (MNI) – Sen. Mark Warner, (D-Va.) Tuesday joined his “Gang
of Eight” congressional colleague Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and said
Congress “must start down the path” of solving the budget crisis.
The pair spoke to hundreds of members at SIFMA’s annual meeting.
Both are among the “Gang of Eight”, a bipartisan group of senators
meeting on the sidelines to draft a deficit reduction package worth
about $4 trillion over a decade.
The extent of their influence on the resolution of the “fiscal
cliff” set of issues is yet to be seen.
Warner also noted that the sooner that congressional members and
the White House wrestle the fiscal cliff to the ground, the better.
Chambliss said that he wished he had a “silver bullet” to solve the
fiscal cliff issue. But he said, realistically, that once the Congress
begins to act on the issue, there will have to be “hard and tough” votes
in the House and Senate. He added also that on the fiscal cliff, it will
be difficult to get agreement.
Chambliss added that he urged the movement forward because his fear
on the sequestration process is that “we could screw it up.”
The senators urged the SIFMA members to be active in the
congressional process on solving the budget crisis. “We are going to
need your help” in such budget work, said Warner.
–smullan@marketnews.com, 212-669-6432
** MNI New York Newsroom: 212-669-6430 **
[TOPICS: M$U$$$,MFU$$$,MCU$$$]
