Nation worth the risk

With the election finally behind us, President Obama and Congress will now try to set partisanship aside and cut a major deal on taxes, spending and entitlements. Good luck on that, right? The good news — which is also the bad news — is that they have enormous incentive to succeed. Without a new law, taxes are set to jump by $400 billion at the start of the year, and federal spending will be slashed by $200 billion. Together, those steps would probably set off another deep recession. So the future looks much like the past, with weeks of drama, confrontation, intrigue and squabbling looming between Democrats and Republicans, between the House and Senate and between Congress and the White House.

The same can be said of two Georgia Republicans, U.S. Rep. Tom Price, of Marietta, and U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss. Over the next three to six months, they’ll be watching each other very closely, and their interactions have the potential to affect the course of national politics directly.

Chambliss is a conservative Republican, but on fiscal issues he has been more willing than many of his GOP colleagues to consider compromise with Democrats. Much as he dislikes higher taxes, he seems to fear soaring debt even more. He has taken a leadership role in the Gang of Eight, a group of four Republican senators and four Democratic senators who have been talking and plotting for at least two years to try to reach agreement on how to slash the deficit.

On Wednesday, for example, when the rest of the nation was still trying to digest election returns, Chambliss joined other gang members on a conference call to plot their course once Congress reconvenes on Tuesday. There’s a lot of skepticism about whether they can succeed, but they represent one of the few forums in which Republicans and Democrats are actually trying to reach consensus.

The broad outlines of a deal are no secret. As a matter of politics and simple math, the only way to reduce the deficit significantly is to increase tax revenues and decrease spending. You do both, or you do nothing. It’s as simple as that. Democrats who are protective of entitlement programs and the safety net have to be willing to make cuts in those programs in return for higher tax revenue, particularly from more affluent Americans. Republicans who have refused to consider higher taxes have to be willing to soften that stance in return for entitlement reform.

Which is where Price comes in. The former physician from Marietta is one of the most conservative members of Congress. He is also said to be eying a run against Chambliss in the 2014 Republican primary, particularly if he loses a bid to move up in House leadership. Should Price move on Chambliss, his strategy would be to hang the dreaded RINO nametag around the neck of Georgia’s senior senator, depicting him as a sellout.

So every time Chambliss is quoted in the media over the next few months as seeking a “balanced” approach to our debt problem, Price will take note. Every time Chambliss appears in public alongside Senate Democrats preaching compromise, a potential campaign commercial will be born.

And both men, I suspect, will be keeping very close tabs on things here at home, through polling and phone calls, trying to determine just how much leeway Georgia Republicans are prepared to give Chambliss. Should a GOP backlash develop, the senator may be forced to decide whether addressing a major national challenge is worth significant risk to his political future.

It is.