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

* The co-chairmen of the National Commission on Fiscal
Responsibility and Reform, former senator Alan Simpson and former White
House chief of staff Erskine Bowles, said Tuesday that they will release
a revised deficit reduction plan Wednesday that calls for nearly $4
trillion in budget savings over a decade. At a news conference, Simpson
and Bowles said they will release a revised plan that attacks the
nation’s serious deficit problems. They said they will call on their 18
person panel to vote on the plan Friday. Both said they have no idea if
it will secure the 14 votes that are required to bring it to the floor
of the House and Senate for its consideration.

* Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday that he hopes the
tax cut negotiations between Congress and the White House “come up with
a bipartisan proposal,” but then added that he still wants the Senate to
vote on a middle class tax cut plan. In comments after a Senate
Democratic party luncheon, Reid said “the number one priority” of
Democrats is to “protect the middle class.”

* Speaking moments before Reid, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin
said that he “assumed” there would be no Senate votes on tax plans while
the talks on the Bush tax cuts continue. Durbin also said it was
“absolutely essential” that an extension of unemployment insurance be
part of any tax cut agreement.

* Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Senate Finance Committee
Chairman Max Baucus will represent Senate Democrats in the tax cuts
talks. House Republican leader John Boehner has appointed Rep. David
Camp, the incoming chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, to
represent House Republicans. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell
has appointed Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl to represent Senate
Republicans in the talks.

* President Obama, after meeting with both Democratic and
Republican congressional leaders Tuesday said he is appointing Treasury
Secretary Tim Geithner and Budget Director Jack Lew to negotiate how to
extend the Bush-era tax cuts. He said he felt there is agreement with
Republican leaders not to exploit disagreements for the sake of sound
bites, but to actually move forward toward solutions, not only on taxes,
but on ratification of the nuclear weapon non-proliferation treaty.
“None of this is going to be easy,” Obama said. “There are two parties
for a reason.”

* Said Obama, “They understand these aren’t times for us to be
playing games.” He said the next election is two years away and “right
now, we’re facing some very serious challenges. We share an obligation
to meet them and that will require choosing the best of our ideas over
the worst of our politics.”

* House Republican leader John Boehner and Senate Republican leader
Mitch McConnell said Tuesday after that meeting with President Obama
that they believe Congress will be able to reach an agreement with the
White House on extending the Bush era tax cuts. Speaking to reporters
from Boehner’s office, the two GOP leaders said the agreement they will
accept would extend all of the Bush era tax cuts, but hinted the length
of the extension will be the primary focus of the talks.

* Senate Minority Leader McConnell said that Congress must “first
resolve” the fate of the Bush tax cuts and a fund bill for the 2011
fiscal year in the Lame Duck session, before taking up any other
matters. In a briefing after a Senate Republican policy luncheon,
McConnell said that he is appointing his deputy, Sen. Jon Kyl, to
represent Senate Republicans in the coming tax talks with the White
House.

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

[TOPICS: M$U$$$,MFU$$$,MCU$$$]