Yanukovich backs Ukraine compromise talks, police dismantle protest barricades

By Richard Balmforth and Alissa de Carbonnel

KIEV Mon Dec 9, 2013 10:46am EST

1 of 7. Supporters of EU integration block a street as they rally during snowfall in Kiev, December 9, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Gleb Garanich

KIEV (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich backed a call for talks with the opposition on Monday to end weeks of protests in Kiev, but tension was high with pro-Europe demonstrators barricading their protest camp in preparation for police intervention.

As riot police took up new positions in the capital, heavyweight boxing champion-turned-opposition politician Vitaly Klitschko called on the protesters to stand their ground, and warned Yanukovich that he would have blood on his hands if security forces tried to end the stand off violently.

With pressure growing on a shaky economy, the presidential website said Yanukovich supported a proposal for round-table talks involving the authorities and the opposition as a possible “platform for mutual understanding”, the website said.

No date was given for when the reconciliation talks could be held. Nor was it clear what the united opposition’s reaction to Yanukovich’s proposal would be.

But it was the first real sign by Yanukovich – whose switch in trade policy away from the European Union towards Russia on November 21 provoked the unrest – that he might be ready to listen to opposition demands for the resignation of his government and early elections.

Despite his words, tension rose sharply on the streets after riot police units moved to take up their positions at potential flashpoints. Demonstrators, responding to calls from opposition leaders, threw up new blocks in streets blanketed by snow after a heavy fall overnight to seal off their main protest camp on Kiev’s Independence Square.

“The opposition must stay here and do everything to stop the police from breaking up a peaceful demonstration,” Klitschko told Reuters.

“We call on people to stand their ground, and peacefully, without using force or aggression, to defend their right to live in a free country,” said Klitschko, who is increasingly seen as a national leader-in-waiting in recent weeks.

“We are expecting the break-up by police of peaceful demonstrators. If blood is spilled during this dispersing (of protesters), this blood will be on the hands of the person who ordered it … Yanukovich,” Klitschko said.

The protesters have been inflamed by a police crackdown on November 30 and European Commissioner Jose Manuel Barroso, who spoke to Yanukovich by phone on Sunday, led Western calls on Monday for authorities not to react violently.

“Those young people in the streets of Ukraine in freezing temperatures are writing the new narrative for Europe,” he said in Milan. “I’ve asked him (Yanukovich) to show restraint in the face of these recent developments, not to use force against people who are demonstrating peacefully, to respect fully their freedom.”

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton expects to meet Yanukovich and opposition leaders when she visits Kiev on Tuesday and Wednesday.

SUDDEN TACK

Yanukovich’s sudden turn towards Russia has provoked the biggest street protests since the 2004-5 Orange Revolution, when people power forced a re-run of a fraud-tainted election and thwarted his first run for the presidency.

On Sunday, several hundred thousand people turned out on Independence Square – focal point of the “orange” protests – calling for the government’s resignation and early elections.

The rally, which ended with a crowd toppling a statue of Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin, followed talks on Friday between Yanukovich and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Neither side has yet given a detailed account of what was agreed at these talks, though Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said a “big agreement” had been reached.

Though most people believe Putin may have offered credits and a cheaper price for gas in return for dumping an EU trade pact, the secrecy surrounding the talks have only fuelled opposition suspicions that Yanukovich might be readying to take Ukraine into a Moscow-led customs union.

There was no immediate response from the opposition to Yanukovich’s offer of talk.

But Klitschko has been calling for a meeting with the 63-year-old president for some time and he told Reuters that if he did meet him he would continue to insist on the resignation of the government.

As Yanukovich’s statement appeared, riot police took up position in streets near Independence Square where about a thousand protesters camped overnight and near Kiev’s city hall, which is occupied by demonstrators.

After a court order was issued for the protesters to quit the building, police told those inside last week that they had four days to leave or be ejected.

ECONOMIC CRISIS

The political turmoil is deepening Ukraine’s economic crisis, with the central bank taking radical action apparently to halt a slide in its foreign currency reserves.

The hryvnia currency jumped from four-year lows on Monday as a sharp rise in short-term interest rates engineered by the National Bank forced commercial banks to scramble for the local currency.

The reserves, which have fallen steadily as the central bank repaid debt and sold dollars to try prop up the hryvnia, slid further last month. It reported on Friday that they had fallen at the end of November to $ 18.791 billion from $ 20.632 billion a month earlier.

That is less than the cost of two months’ imports and leaves Ukraine vulnerable to a currency crisis and possibly even a debt default.

“We estimate the critical level of reserves is around $ 15 billion, so authorities have less than $ 4 billion now to continue to defend the status quo,” said Vladimir Osakovsky, an economist at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch.

Ukraine owes just under $ 4 billion in gas bills and debt repayments in the first three months of 2014. However, Osakovsky said foreign debt repayments were low in December and early next year, and this could slow the reserves’ decline.

Overnight interest rates – at which banks lend to each other – jumped to the highest levels in a year at around 20 percent on Monday. This forced some banks to sell dollars to meet daily their funding needs, dealers said.

“The National Bank fought off the attack by the currency speculators,” said Oleksander Okhrimenko, president of the Ukrainian Analytical Centre in Kiev. “The National Bank carried out dollar-buying intervention and on the other hand it has been withdrawing hryvnia from the system.”

The central bank’s spokeswoman declined comment.

The action pushed the hryvnia to the highest in six weeks against the dollar but it remains under severe stress in forward markets which are pricing a sharp devaluation over the next six to 12 months.

Few people yet expect Ukraine to default on its debts. Nevertheless, it now costs more than $ 1 million a year to insure exposure to $ 10 million of Ukrainian debt over a five-year period.

(Additional reporting by Pavel Polityuk, Natalia Zinets, Elizabeth Piper, Carolyn Cohn and Sujata Rao in London; Writing By Richard Balmforth; Editing by Elizabeth Piper and David Stamp)

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Reuters: Top News

Yanukovich backs Ukraine compromise talks, police dismantle protest barricades

Iran, 6 powers may be edging towards compromise nuclear deal

GENEVA (Reuters) – Iran and six world powers appeared closer on Friday towards clinching an elusive interim deal under which Tehran would curb its contested nuclear program, with diplomats saying a major sticking point may have been overcome.

Reuters: Top News

Iran, 6 powers may be edging towards compromise nuclear deal

VIDEO: Brad Hirschfield on the Government Shutdown

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Obama To Republicans Who Oppose "Compromise": "That"s Not Why The People Sent You Here"

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: How about beyond the deficit? You were, you know, reelected a little more than a year ago, 332 electoral votes. 51% of the vote. First president since Eisenhower to do it twice. You put gun control at the top of the agenda, immigration reform, climate change. All of it stalled or reversing. How do you answer the argument that– beyond the deficit, this has been a lost year? And how do you save it?

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Well on immigration reform for example we got a terrific bipartisan vote out of the Senate– that showed that there is a recognition from all quarters, from business, from labor, from– the clergy, from farm interests, that– a sensible immigration policy will grow our economy, make us stronger. So you had Democrats and Republicans in the Senate come together, come up with a bill that wasn’t perfect, it wasn’t my bill, but got the job done. It’s now sitting there in the House.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Not going anywhere.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Well– but what I will say is this: If Speaker Boehner put that bill on the floor of the House of Representatives right now, it would pass. It would pass. So the question then is not whether or not– the ideas that we’ve put forward can garner a majority of support certainly in the country. I mean gun control, we had 80-90% of the country that– that agreed with it.

The problem we have is we have a– faction of the Republican Party– in the House of Representatives in particular, that view “compromise” as a dirty word, and anything that– is even remotely associated with me, they feel obliged to oppose. And my argument to them is real simple. That’s not why the people sent you here.

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Obama To Republicans Who Oppose "Compromise": "That"s Not Why The People Sent You Here"

Compromise would restore lower college loan rates

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, chair of the Senate Education Committee, announces to reporters that a bipartisan agreement was reached on lowering rates for government student loans, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, July 18, 2013. At left is Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., with Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., at right. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, chair of the Senate Education Committee, announces to reporters that a bipartisan agreement was reached on lowering rates for government student loans, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, July 18, 2013. At left is Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., with Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., at right. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., a former secretary of education, center, speaks to reporters after a bipartisan agreement was reached on lowering rates for government student loans, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, July 18, 2013. Interest rates doubled July 1, 2013, because Congress didn’t avert a rate hike built into the law. Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, right, was one of the main negotiators. At far left is Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Chart shows projected student loan rates based on a proposed Senate plan; 1c x 3 inches; 46.5 mm x 76 mm;

Prospective students tour Georgetown University’s campus in Washington, Wednesday, July 10, 2013. The defeat of a student loan bill in the Senate on Wednesday clears the way for fresh negotiations to restore lower rates, but lawmakers are racing the clock before millions of students return to campus next month to find borrowing terms twice as high as when school let out. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

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WASHINGTON (AP) — A compromise deal on student loans that could hold down loan rates in the short term was expected to come to a vote next week, well before students returning to campus this fall have to sign their loan agreements.

While the deal could lower rates for students and parents over the next few years, it could spell higher rates as the economy improves.

The Senate deal pegs the interest rates on new loans to the financial markets. Under the deal, undergraduates this fall could borrow at a 3.9 percent interest rate. Graduate students would have access to loans at 5.4 percent, and parents would be able to borrow at 6.4 percent. Those rates would climb as the economy improves and it becomes more expensive for the government to borrow money.

The compromise undoes the doubling of rates on some student loans that took hold on July 1, and one analysis of the Senate deal suggests incoming freshmen would save more than $ 3,300 in interest.

“We have gone through weeks of negotiations and we have an agreement,” said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.

At the White House, spokesman Jay Carney said President Barack Obama was “glad to see that a compromise seems to be coming together.”

And Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said students benefited: “For every one of them, the interest rates on their loans will be lower.”

At least for now. The compromise could be a good deal for students through the 2015 academic year, but then interest rates are expected to climb above where they were when students left campus in the spring.

Even in announcing the compromise, it was clear the negotiations were dicey.

“While this is not the agreement any of us would have written, and many of us would like to have seen something quite different, I believe that we have come a very long way on reaching common ground,” Durbin told reporters.

Moments later, Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said he would revisit the whole agreement this fall, when his panel takes up a rewrite of the Higher Education Act. Harkin did little to hide his unhappiness with the compromise, but said there were few options to avoid a costly hike on students returning to campus this fall.

As part of the compromise, Democrats won a protection for students that capped rates at a maximum 8.25 percent for undergraduates. Graduate students would not pay rates higher than 9.5 percent, and parents’ rates would top out at 10.5 percent.

Using Congressional Budget Office estimates, rates would not reach those limits in the next 10 years.

Lawmakers engaged in near-constant work to undo a rate hike that took hold for subsidized Stafford loans on July 1. Rates for new subsidized Stafford loans doubled from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent.

On Wednesday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau estimated outstanding student debt at $ 1.2 trillion — up 20 percent in just two years. Student loans are now the largest form of consumer debt behind mortgages.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates 21 million loans would be issued in 2013. Students often take a combination of subsidized and unsubsidized loans to pay for their education.

The rapid growth in debt is raising alarm among experts, and there is growing evidence student debt is weighing down the economy — for instance, by delaying the ability of young graduates to buy homes.

The increase follows the jump in the cost of higher education.

The tuition sticker price at public four-year colleges is up 27 percent beyond overall inflation over the last five years, according to the latest figures from the College Board. This past year it rose nearly 5 percent to an annual average of $ 8,655 nationwide.

Only about one-third of full-time students pay that published price, and the average net price — what the average student does pay after grants, scholarships, loans and federal tax credits and deductions — is just $ 2,910 for a year of studies. But net prices have been rising, too, and tuition is just part of the cost of college. Including room and board, the average annual sticker price at public colleges is now $ 17,860, and students pay on average $ 12,110.

At private four-year colleges, the annual average full tuition price is now just under $ 40,000, with the average student paying $ 23,840.

The bipartisan student loan compromise closely hews to what House Republicans passed earlier this year. Both Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and Republican House Speaker John Boehner suggested the outlines of the proposal were acceptable to the GOP rank-and-file members who have pushed for a link between interest rates and the financial markets.

Even House Democrats who opposed the GOP-led deal there appeared ready to go along.

“I’m encouraged that bipartisan efforts continue in the Senate to reverse the student loan interest rate hike,” said Rep. George Miller, the top Democrat on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

Few students had borrowed for fall classes. Students typically do not sign loans until just before they return to campus, and lawmakers have until the August recess to restore the lower rates. The students who had borrowed for summer programs since July 1 would have their rates retroactively reduced.

The deal was estimated to reduce the deficit by $ 715 million over the next decade.

___

Associated Press Higher Education Writer Justin Pope in Ann Arbor, Mich., contributed to this report.

___

Follow Philip Elliott on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/philip_elliott

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Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Politics Headlines

Compromise would restore lower college loan rates

Senators closing in on border security compromise

House Speaker John Boehner Ohio leaves a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 20, 2013, where he responded to reporters’ questions on immigration reform legislation, jobs, and President Barack Obama’s plan to put limits on the carbon emissions of existing power plants. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

House Speaker John Boehner Ohio leaves a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 20, 2013, where he responded to reporters’ questions on immigration reform legislation, jobs, and President Barack Obama’s plan to put limits on the carbon emissions of existing power plants. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

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WASHINGTON (AP) — White House-backed immigration legislation gained momentum in the Senate on Thursday as lawmakers closed in on a bipartisan compromise to spend tens of billions of dollars stiffening the bill’s border security requirements without delaying legalization for millions already living in the country unlawfully.

“Once the Senate adopts our amendment, I will be proud to vote for a bill that secures our border and respects our heritage as an immigrant nation,” Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., said in a statement. Additional GOP support was expected as a result of the package of changes that some backers dubbed a “border surge” and GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said “practically militarizes” the U.S. border with Mexico.

Under the emerging compromise, the government would — under certain conditions — grant legal status to immigrants living in the United States illegally at the same time the additional security was being put into place. Green cards, which signify permanent residency status, would be withheld until the security steps were complete.

In addition, immigrants would not be able to claim credit for Social Security taxes they paid while working without lawful status. Credits are used to determine the amount in Social Security benefits a worker receives after retirement.

Officials said the plan envisions doubling the size of the Border Patrol with 20,000 new agents, completing 700 miles of new fencing along the border with Mexico and purchasing new surveillance drones to track would-be illegal border crossers. The cost of the additional agents alone was put at $ 30 billion over a decade.

Under another change, neither the administration nor states would be permitted to grant welfare benefits for five years to immigrants currently living unlawfully in the United States.

Republican Sens. John Hoeven of North Dakota and Bob Corker of Tennessee, both of whom played key roles in the talks, said they expected a formal announcement at midafternoon.

There was no immediate reaction from the White House to terms hashed out by senators in both parties, although Democrats kept administration officials apprised of the talks.

The secretive negotiations continued as the Senate rejected an attempt by one Republican critic to delay legalization until any border security improvements were proven effective rather than merely deployed. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said his proposal was an attempt “to turn border security rhetoric into reality,” but it was sidetracked on a vote of 54-43.

The agreement began to take shape over the past several days beginning with meetings involving Republicans who were uncommitted on the legislation but receptive to supporting it after changes were made. Eventually, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., both authors of the bill, joined the talks.

If agreed to, the changes could clear the way for a strong bipartisan vote within a few days to pass the measure that sits atop President Barack Obama’s second-term domestic agenda.

The officials who described the emerging deal spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the private talks.

The developments came as Democrats who met with House Speaker John Boehner on Wednesday quoted him as saying he expected the House to pass its own version of an immigration bill this summer and Congress to have a final compromise by year’s end.

Boehner, R-Ohio, already has said the legislation that goes to the House in the next month or two will not include a pathway to citizenship for immigrants in the United States illegally.

Earlier this week, the Congressional Budget Office jolted lawmakers with an estimate saying that as drafted, the legislation would fail to prevent a steady increase in the future in the number of residents living in the United States illegally.

The estimate appeared to give added credibility to Republicans who have been pressing Democrats to toughen the border security provisions already written into the bill.

“Our whole effort has been to build a bipartisan group that will support the bill,” said Hoeven, who’s helped develop the deal along with Corker. “That’s what this is all about, and it’s focused on border security.”

Schumer and Menendez met at midday Wednesday with Graham, Hoeven, Corker and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

It was unclear which other portions of the Senate legislation might be changed. There is pressure from some Republicans to make sure no federal benefits go to immigrants who are in the country illegally, at least until they become citizens.

The underlying legislation already envisions more border agents, additional fencing along the U.S-Mexico border, surveillance drones, a requirement for employers to verify the legal status of potential workers and a biometric system to track foreigners who enter and leave the United States at air and seaports and by land.

Schumer said discussions with Republicans “have been really productive.”

“We’ve made a lot of progress in the last 24 hours. Now we have some vetting to do with our respective allies,” he said.

If ratified, the compromise would mark concessions on both sides.

Some Republicans have been unwilling to support a bill that grants legal status to immigrants in the country illegally until the government certifies that the border security steps have achieved 90 percent effectiveness in stopping would-be border crossers.

On the other hand, Democrats have opposed Republican proposals to make legalization contingent on success in closing the border to illegal crossings. Under the legislation as drafted, legalization could begin as soon as a security plan was drafted, but a 10-year wait would be required for a green card.

___

Associated Press writer Laurie Kellman contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Politics Headlines

Senators closing in on border security compromise

Senators closing in on border security compromise

House Speaker John Boehner Ohio leaves a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 20, 2013, where he responded to reporters’ questions on immigration reform legislation, jobs, and President Barack Obama’s plan to put limits on the carbon emissions of existing power plants. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

House Speaker John Boehner Ohio leaves a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 20, 2013, where he responded to reporters’ questions on immigration reform legislation, jobs, and President Barack Obama’s plan to put limits on the carbon emissions of existing power plants. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

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WASHINGTON (AP) — White House-backed immigration legislation gained momentum in the Senate on Thursday as lawmakers closed in on a bipartisan compromise to spend tens of billions of dollars stiffening the bill’s border security requirements without delaying legalization for millions already living in the country unlawfully.

“Once the Senate adopts our amendment, I will be proud to vote for a bill that secures our border and respects our heritage as an immigrant nation,” Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., said in a statement. Additional GOP support was expected as a result of the package of changes that some backers dubbed a “border surge” and GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said “practically militarizes” the U.S. border with Mexico.

Under the emerging compromise, the government would — under certain conditions — grant legal status to immigrants living in the United States illegally at the same time the additional security was being put into place. Green cards, which signify permanent residency status, would be withheld until the security steps were complete.

In addition, immigrants would not be able to claim credit for Social Security taxes they paid while working without lawful status. Credits are used to determine the amount in Social Security benefits a worker receives after retirement.

Officials said the plan envisions doubling the size of the Border Patrol with 20,000 new agents, completing 700 miles of new fencing along the border with Mexico and purchasing new surveillance drones to track would-be illegal border crossers. The cost of the additional agents alone was put at $ 30 billion over a decade.

Under another change, neither the administration nor states would be permitted to grant welfare benefits for five years to immigrants currently living unlawfully in the United States.

Republican Sens. John Hoeven of North Dakota and Bob Corker of Tennessee, both of whom played key roles in the talks, said they expected a formal announcement at midafternoon.

There was no immediate reaction from the White House to terms hashed out by senators in both parties, although Democrats kept administration officials apprised of the talks.

The secretive negotiations continued as the Senate rejected an attempt by one Republican critic to delay legalization until any border security improvements were proven effective rather than merely deployed. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said his proposal was an attempt “to turn border security rhetoric into reality,” but it was sidetracked on a vote of 54-43.

The agreement began to take shape over the past several days beginning with meetings involving Republicans who were uncommitted on the legislation but receptive to supporting it after changes were made. Eventually, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., both authors of the bill, joined the talks.

If agreed to, the changes could clear the way for a strong bipartisan vote within a few days to pass the measure that sits atop President Barack Obama’s second-term domestic agenda.

The officials who described the emerging deal spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the private talks.

The developments came as Democrats who met with House Speaker John Boehner on Wednesday quoted him as saying he expected the House to pass its own version of an immigration bill this summer and Congress to have a final compromise by year’s end.

Boehner, R-Ohio, already has said the legislation that goes to the House in the next month or two will not include a pathway to citizenship for immigrants in the United States illegally.

Earlier this week, the Congressional Budget Office jolted lawmakers with an estimate saying that as drafted, the legislation would fail to prevent a steady increase in the future in the number of residents living in the United States illegally.

The estimate appeared to give added credibility to Republicans who have been pressing Democrats to toughen the border security provisions already written into the bill.

“Our whole effort has been to build a bipartisan group that will support the bill,” said Hoeven, who’s helped develop the deal along with Corker. “That’s what this is all about, and it’s focused on border security.”

Schumer and Menendez met at midday Wednesday with Graham, Hoeven, Corker and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

It was unclear which other portions of the Senate legislation might be changed. There is pressure from some Republicans to make sure no federal benefits go to immigrants who are in the country illegally, at least until they become citizens.

The underlying legislation already envisions more border agents, additional fencing along the U.S-Mexico border, surveillance drones, a requirement for employers to verify the legal status of potential workers and a biometric system to track foreigners who enter and leave the United States at air and seaports and by land.

Schumer said discussions with Republicans “have been really productive.”

“We’ve made a lot of progress in the last 24 hours. Now we have some vetting to do with our respective allies,” he said.

If ratified, the compromise would mark concessions on both sides.

Some Republicans have been unwilling to support a bill that grants legal status to immigrants in the country illegally until the government certifies that the border security steps have achieved 90 percent effectiveness in stopping would-be border crossers.

On the other hand, Democrats have opposed Republican proposals to make legalization contingent on success in closing the border to illegal crossings. Under the legislation as drafted, legalization could begin as soon as a security plan was drafted, but a 10-year wait would be required for a green card.

___

Associated Press writer Laurie Kellman contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Top Headlines

Senators closing in on border security compromise

Greek court orders state TV reopened, PM offers compromise

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Protesters cast their shadows on a state broadcaster ERT van outside its headquarters in Athens June 16, 2013.


Credit: Reuters/Yorgos Karahalis








ATHENS | Mon Jun 17, 2013 2:02pm EDT





ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece’s prime minister has offered to quickly restart state broadcaster ERT under temporary management, a government official said on Monday, in a bid to defuse a political crisis and avoid snaps elections.




Samaras made the offer during talks with coalition allies in an effort to bridge a rift over the broadcaster’s abrupt closure that plunged Greece into fresh political turmoil, the official said.




However, he insists that ERT be restructured and restart as a new, slimmed-down broadcaster, the official said.




The official said Samaras also offered to reshuffle his cabinet at the end of June and update the coalition agreement with his allies, the Socialist PASOK and Democratic Left, in a bid to improve cooperation between the three parties.




(Reporting by Lefteris Papadimas, editing by Deepa Babington)





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Greek court orders state TV reopened, PM offers compromise

Obama urges Congress to compromise on cuts

President Barack Obama addresses the National Governors Association in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

President Barack Obama addresses the National Governors Association in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal listens as National Governors Association Chairman, Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, speaks with reporters outside the White House in Washington, Monday, Feb. 25, 2013, following their meeting with President Barack Obama. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, accompanied by White House press secretary Jay Carney, briefs reporters on the sequester, Monday, Feb. 25, 2013, at the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing an end of the week deadline, President Barack Obama said Monday that Congress can avert sweeping across-the-board cuts with “just a little bit of compromise,” as he sought to stick lawmakers with the blame if the budget ax falls.

Speaking to the nation’s governors, Obama acknowledged that the impact of the $ 85 billion in cuts may not be felt immediately. But he also said the uncertainty already is impacting the economy, as the Pentagon and other agencies get ready to furlough employees.

“At some point we’ve got to do some governing,” Obama said. “And certainly what we can’t do is keep careening from manufactured crisis to manufactured crisis.”

Despite Obama’s urgent rhetoric, there is no indication that the White House and Congress were negotiating a deal to avoid cuts by Friday’s deadline. White House press secretary Jay Carney said he had no new telephone calls to announce since the president’s conversations with Republican congressional leaders last week. “We will continue to engage with Congress this week,” Carney said.

Obama wants to offset the so-called sequester through a combination of targeted spending cuts and revenue increases, but Republicans oppose any plan that would include tax hikes.

Emerging from a closed-door meeting with Obama, governors said the president had assured the administration is pursuing solutions, but didn’t offer assurances that officials would find a way ahead out ahead of the deadline.

The $ 85 billion budget-cutting mechanism could affect everything from commercial flights to classrooms to meat inspections. Domestic and defense spending alike would be trimmed, leading to furloughs for hundreds of thousands of government workers and contractors.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has said the cuts would harm the readiness of U.S. fighting forces. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said travelers could see delayed flights. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said 70,000 fewer children from low-income families would have access to Head Start programs. And furloughed meat inspectors could leave plants idled.

The White House continued laying out in stark terms what the cuts would mean for government services, dispatching Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to warn of the implications for critical security functions.

“I don’t think we can maintain the same level of security at all places around the country with sequester as without sequester,” said Napolitano, adding that the impact would be “‘like a rolling ball. It will keep growing.”

Despite the Friday deadline, there are no serious negotiations happening between the White House and Congress. Obama is focused instead are trying to rally public support for his stance in the debate by warning Americans of the dire consequences of the across-the-board cuts.

The president told the governors that cuts would “”slow our economy, eliminate good jobs, and leave a lot of folks who are already pretty thinly stretched scrambling to figure out what to do.”

The spending cuts have frustrated governors attending the National Governors Association meeting in Washington. They contend it has created widespread uncertainty in the economy and hampered economic recovery in their states.

“The president needs to show leadership,” said Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican considered a potential 2016 presidential contender, outside the West Wing. “The reality is it can be done. This administration has an insatiable appetite for new revenue.”

Democratic governors, meanwhile, laid responsibility squarely at the feet of Congress, but called on lawmakers from both parties to compromise.

“They need to get out of that box that sits under the dome and understand that this has real implications in people’s lives,” said Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy. “Work with the president, find a way to get it done — or if you want, just turn it over to us governors, and we’ll negotiate.”

The White House, seeking to ratchet up pressure on congressional lawmakers, gave the governors state-by-state reports on the impact of the cuts on their constituencies.

White House officials pointed to Ohio — home of House Speaker John Boehner — as one state that would be hit hard: $ 25.1 million in education spending and another $ 22 million for students with disabilities. Some 2,500 children from low-income families would also be removed from Head Start programs.

Officials said their analysis showed Kentucky would lose $ 93,000 in federal funding for a domestic abuse program, meaning 400 fewer victims being served in Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s home state. Georgia, meanwhile, would face a $ 286,000 budget cut to its children’s health programs, meaning almost 4,200 fewer children would receive vaccinations against measles and whooping cough.

The White House compiled its state-by-state reports from federal agencies and its own budget office. The numbers reflect the impact of the cuts this year. Unless Congress acts by Friday, $ 85 billion in cuts are set to take effect from March to September.

As to whether states could move money around to cover shortfalls, the White House said that depends on state budget structures and the specific programs. The White House did not have a list of which states or programs might have flexibility.

Republican leaders were not impressed by the state-by-state reports.

“It’s time for the White House to stop spending all its time campaigning, and start finding smarter ways to reduce the deficit,” said McConnell.

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Associated Press writers Ken Thomas and Josh Lederman contributed to this report.

Associated Press

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Obama urges Congress to compromise on cuts