–Vice President: ‘Confident’ Can Agree on ‘Relatively Large Number’
–Still Wants $4 Trillion Deficit Reduction Accord
–‘Revenues Have To Be In The Deal’

By John Shaw

WASHINGTON (MNI) – Vice President Joe Biden emerged Tuesday from
nearly three hours of budget talks on Capitol Hill saying the
negotiations are going well and the parties should be able to agree on
“well above” $1 trillion in budget savings “pretty quick.”

“We’re making progress,” Biden said to reporters in the Capitol.

Biden said he is “confident” that there will be an agreement on a
“relatively large number” of budget savings now which will be a
“downpayment” on a larger package of $4 trillion in budget savings.

The vice president said the final agreement will have to include
tax changes.

“Revenues have to be in the deal,” he said.

Biden said the talks are ready to deal with “big ticket items,” but
did not specify what issues this refers to.

The Biden budget talks will resume Thursday. This will be the
fifth meeting of the budget negotiators.

The Biden talks are exploring a deficit reduction package that can
be developed to coincide with this summer’s vote on debt ceiling
legislation.

Biden is negotiating with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor,
Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman
Dan Inouye, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, Assistant
House Minority Leader Jim Clyburn and Rep. Chris Van Hollen, the top
Democrat on the House Budget Committee.

The administration is represented by Biden, Treasury Secretary
Tim Geithner, White House budget director Jack Lew and the director of
the National Economic Council Gene Sperling.

Kyl, the Senate Republican representative to the Biden talks, said
last week that there is a general agreement in the talks on about $150
billion in savings.

This is well below the “trillions” in reductions that congressional
Republicans want as a condition for voting for an increase in the debt
ceiling this summer.

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

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