WASHINGTON (MNI) – The following are items of interest Wednesday
relating to the pending congressional vote on whether to extend Bush era
tax cuts and to the deficit:

* The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform,
apparently unable to muster the 14 of 18 votes that could trigger
congressional consideration, unveiled its final “Moment of Truth”
recommendations at 9:30 a.m. ET, slightly modified from the “chairmen’s
mark” published last week. The actual votes was postponed until Friday,
two days after the Wednesday deadline. The plan is available at the
fiscalcommission.gov Web site.

* The Commission recommendations reduce the so-called primary
deficit, without debt service included, to zero by 2035, and cut it as a
percent of GDP from 8.9% this year to 2.3% in 2015, 1.2% in 2020 and
0.6% in 2030.

* The fiscal Commissioned warned in its final report Wednesday
that, “If we do not act soon to reassure the markets, the risk of a
crisis will increase and the options available to avert or remedy the
crisis will both narrow and become more stringent.” In 10 more years
without action, “spending cuts and tax increases needed to plug the hole
could nearly double what is needed today.”

* Sen. Judd Gregg told CNBC Wednesday he sees the Commission
recommendations as not fundamentally raising taxes, but leveling the
fiscal playing field to allow companies to avoid devoting so much
resources to avoiding taxes. Gregg said the nation “is facing fiscal
disaster.” The recommendations, he said, would show Congress is willing
to govern.

* On the heels of the President’s meeting Tuesday with bipartisan
Congressional leadership at the White House, Treasury Secretary Tim
Geithner and OMB Director Jack Lew will meet on Wednesday morning on
Capitol Hill with Sen. Max Baucus, Senator Jon Kyl, Congressman Chris
Van Hollen and Congressman Dave Camp for their first working meeting to
“begin to find common ground on taxes and ensure that middle-class
families do not see their taxes increase at the end of the year,” the
Treasury Department said.

* The National Governors Association overnight published its fiscal
survey of the states, showing only slight improvement, with 23 states
showing $41 billion in shortfalls. Eleven of the states face $10 billion
in cuts in their current fiscal year.

* The extended unemployment benefits program expired at midnight,
although it could still be renewed retroactively by the Lame Duck
Congress.

* The stop-gap legislation currently allowing government to pay its
bills expires Friday and the House may vote later in the day for another
short-term funding measure that could keep government services in place
until perhaps February.

** Market News International Washington Bureau: 202-371-2121 **

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