–Vice President Set To Host Of Meetings Tues, Wed, Thurs, Maybe Friday
–Key Republican Senator Says Biden Talks Must Yield Progress This Week
–Sen. Kyl: Will ‘Reasses’ Biden Talks If ‘Haven’t Made Enough Progress’
–Sen. McConnell: Would Be ‘Absurd’ To Hike Taxes As Part of Debt Deal

By John Shaw

WASHINGTON (MNI) – Vice President Joe Biden will reconvene his
deficit reduction negotiation group Tuesday at 1 p.m. ET for the first
of what could be four meetings this week on Capitol Hill.

Biden heads to Chicago for a speech later in the afternoon so
Tuesday’s session is likely to extend for only two hours or so.

Biden is also expected to reconvene his group for talks on
Wednesday, Thursday and possibly Friday as efforts intensify to craft a
deficit reduction package that could be linked to debt ceiling
legislation.

Biden has said he wants a broad budget agreement reached by the end
of June so it can be presented to President Obama and congressional
leaders by the Fourth of July.

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

The U.S. has already reached its $14.29 trillion debt ceiling.
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has said that Congress must pass
legislation increasing the debt ceiling by August 2.

Biden has been joined in the budget talks by 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 Minority Whip, told reporters two weeks ago that
Republicans want a package of at least $2.4 trillion in savings over a
decade or more as a condition for increasing the debt ceiling by that
same amount.

In comments to reporters Monday, Kyl said this is a critical week
for the Biden talks.

“If we haven’t made enough progress by the end of this week, we’re
really going to have to reassess the situation,” he said.

Kyl said that if an agreement is reached by early July it would
likely take several weeks to put it into legislative language, brief
lawmakers and move it through the House and Senate.

Kyl added that passage by the House and Senate of a large deficit
reduction package is hardly a sure thing.

Van Hollen, a Democratic member of the Biden talks, Monday
downplayed suggestions that Congress might be prepared to pass a series
of short-term debt ceiling extensions this summer.

“We’re focused on Plan A,” he said, adding that this is to pass a
debt ceiling increase sufficiently large to extend until after the 2012
November elections.

Biden has said he is “convinced” the White House and Congress will
able to reach an agreement on a deficit reduction plan that leads to $4
trillion in savings over 10 to 12 years. Biden said there is already an
agreement in the talks on “well beyond” $1 trillion in savings.

In remarks Tuesday on the Senate floor, Senate Minority Leader
Mitch McConnell said the budget pact that Biden develops “has to involve
entitlement reform.”

McConnell said it would be “absurd” to include tax increases in the
deficit reduction package that Biden is developing.

“The solution is to spend less,” he said.

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

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