-Senate Majority Durbin: Efforts Underway To Avert Fiscal Cliff
-President Obama To Meet Congressional Leaders Friday

By John Shaw

WASHINGTON (MNI) – Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin said Tuesday
the talks between President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner will be
the “focus” of Washington’s efforts to avoid the fiscal cliff.

In remarks to a small group of reporters in a Capitol Hill hallway,
Durbin said ad hoc groups such as the Senate’s so-called “Gang of Eight” can
“contribute ideas,” but an agreement to avert the fiscal cliff and put in place
a major deficit reduction agreement must be reached by the President and the
Speaker.

“I think most of us want to avoid the cliff,” Durbin said.

Obama will meet with congressional leaders Friday to begin talks on
how to resolve the fiscal cliff impasse.

Before sitting down with congressional leaders, the President will confer
Tuesday with labor leaders and representative of progressive think tanks, and
Wednesday with a group of business executives.

Last week Obama and Boehner sent conciliatory signals, but did not tip
their hands about what a final budget accord may look like.

The president repeated his insistence that any deficit reduction
package be “balanced” to include spending cuts and revenue increases.

“We can’t just cut our way to prosperity,” Obama said, arguing
that tax increases for the wealthy must be part of a final agreement.

But the president also struck a conciliatory note. “I’m open to
compromise. I’m open to new ideas,” he said.

Boehner said it is essential for Congress and Obama to find a way to
avert the fiscal cliff. He repeated that he opposes increasing tax rates
as part of a deficit reduction package, adding he is waiting for new
proposals from the president.

The Speaker said he is open to new revenues as long as they are generated
by tax reform which spurs economic growth or closing unneeded tax loopholes. He
said tax reform and entitlement reform are critical to a long-term deficit
reduction agreement that should be reached next year.

Boehner has said Congress should pass a “down payment” on deficit reduction
this year, but declined to say how large a package he would like to pass and how
this package would relate to efforts to avert the fiscal cliff.

** MNI Washington Bureau: (202) 371-2121 **

–email: jshaw@mni-news.com

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