JANET HOOK And COREY BOLES
The Wall Street Journal
June 23, 2011
WASHINGTON—The two Republicans participating in bipartisan budget talks headed by Vice President Joe Biden said they were pulling out due to an impasse over taxes that only President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner could resolve.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R., Va.) said he wouldn’t be attending Thursday’s scheduled meeting of the deficit-reduction leadership group because he believed it was time for the talks to move to a higher level. After Mr. Cantor’s remarks, Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R., Ariz.) also withdrew from the talks, and the Thursday meeting was canceled.
“We’ve reached the point where the dynamic needs to change,” Mr. Cantor said in an interview. He described Wednesday’s session with Mr. Biden as contentious. “It is up to the president to come in and talk to the speaker. We’ve reached the end of this phase. Now is the time for these talks to go into abeyance.”
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