• By
  • Damian Paletta
Associated Press

Last week, a reporter asked top White House economic adviser Gene Sperling to consider a cap on tax breaks as a way to reduce the deficit. Mr. Sperling, whose political antenna is always up, interrupted the journalist and asked him how many Republican votes he could deliver. (Mr. Sperling’s point: You can’t deliver votes so I’m not going to negotiate with you.)

The flip comment was a window into one of the White House’s primary challenges as it tries to craft a deficit-reduction package. Not only do they need to wade through complicated issues like the tax code and Medicare, but they need to line up a political alliance unlike anything President Barack Obama has secured during his four years in office.

It needs a large-scale plan that can win support in the Democrat-controlled Senate and the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

Not only do they need the sheer votes, but they need the Democratic leadership in the Senate and Republican leadership in the House to agree. It’s the equivalent of threading two needles with the same piece of string.

So far, many lawmakers are reserving judgment until they see whether a deal emerges from the talks that have just begun between Messrs. Obama, Sperling, and congressional leaders.

The Gang of Six (or Eight, or Five) in the Senate has died and been reincarnated a dozen times in the past two years. The bipartisan team, led by Sen. Mark Warner (D., Va.) and Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R., Ga.), has met repeatedly in an effort to design a bipartisan deficit-reduction package. Despite those meetings, it hasn’t been able to finalize a plan, and interest in its work has fizzled.

Like a horror-movie villain, the gang is never completely dead, but focus on its work has waned as congressional leadership has stepped in. The exercise has proven that there is a sizable number of lawmakers in the Senate who say they’ll back a bipartisan deal, but they can’t reach one all on their own.

So what about the House of Representatives, which is the biggest wild card for both parties?

On Friday, two Democrats and two Republicans signed a letter to congressional leadership telling them that “all options for mandatory and discretionary spending and revenues must be on the table.”

The letter was signed by Reps. Steve LaTourette (R., Ohio), Mike Simpson (R., Idaho), Heath Shuler (D., N.C.), and Jim Cooper (D., Tenn.). Of note, Messrs. LaTourette and Shuler are retiring and are spending their final days in Congress.

The fact that the letter was signed by just four of the House of Representatives 435 members could make it meaningless, particularly as two of the four are retiring. But it could also suggest to the White House and congressional leaders that there is a nascent bloc of lawmakers willing to back a bipartisan deal, if they get a chance to vote.



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