–Senate Majority Leader Says McConnell Should Listen To Rep. Cantor
–Sen. McConnell: GOP Wants ‘Very Large Package’ of Spending Cuts
–Sen. McConnell: Budget Package Should ‘Impress’ Credit Rating Agencies

By John Shaw

WASHINGTON (MNI) – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Tuesday said
he disagrees with a suggestion that has been floated by Senate Minority
Leader Mitch McConnell to increase the statutory debt ceiling this year
in a series of modest increments through multiple votes.

At a briefing, Reid said that he agrees with House Majority Leader
Eric Cantor who said earlier in the day that he believes there should be
one debt ceiling vote this summer.

“I agree with Cantor,” Reid said.

Speaking before Reid, McConnell said he hopes the budget talks led
by Vice President Biden lead to a “very large package” of spending cuts
that will “impress the credit rating agencies” and also “astonish the
American people.”

“We need to do a large package,” McConnell said, adding that it
should include short-term spending caps and medium- and long-term
entitlement savings.

McConnell said no deficit cut package will be viewed as “credible”
if it does not include significant entitlement reforms.

Sen. Lamar Alexander, the third ranking Senate Republican, said the
Biden talks should stay clear of tax policy.

“It’s not about taxes. It’s about spending,” Alexander said.

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 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 Minority Whip, has said that Republicans want a
package of more than $2.4 trillion in savings over a decade or more as a
condition for increasing the debt ceiling by that same amount.

Biden reconvened his budget talks Tuesday afternoon at 1 p.m. in
Biden’s office on the Senate side of the Capitol.

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

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