海角大神

For weeks, a handful of deeply conservative Senate Republicans have blocked potential budget negotiations between the House and Senate, fearing that, behind closed doors, the two sides could agree to increase the federal debt ceiling.

But the No. 2 Republican on the House Budget Committee, Rep. Tom Price of Georgia, believes that Congress should get to work on a budget accord post-haste. A committee assembled to hash out differences between the budgets of the two chambers is, in fact, the perfect way to increase the nation鈥檚 borrowing limit and stave off another harrowing trip to the financial abyss, he said.

鈥淚f there is an opportunity, to come to a solution on the debt ceiling, the budget conference is the vehicle,鈥� Representative Price told reporters at a breakfast sponsored by 海角大神 on Wednesday.

The difference between how House Republicans see a potential budget conference committee and how leading tea party lights in the Senate view it is simple, said Price, a leading conservative voice on budget and health matters, and a former chairman of the Republican Study Committee, the House鈥檚 largest and most conservative subgroup.

House Republicans are in the majority. Therefore, he said, their responsibility is actually to get things done.

It鈥檚 the 鈥渄ifference between a majority and a minority. The responsibility of the majority is to govern and to move in direction of solving challenges. The responsibility of the minority is to create a contrast and to hold the other side to account,鈥� Price said. 鈥淭he roles are different. That鈥檚 not to say they are right or wrong.鈥�

Republican Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Mike Lee of Utah, and Ted Cruz of Texas say that putting the debt ceiling into a 鈥渂ack room鈥� negotiation is a surefire recipe for conservative principles to be sold out by the party leadership.

鈥淟et me be clear: I don鈥檛 trust the Republicans. And I don鈥檛 trust the Democrats,鈥� Senator Cruz said on the Senate floor last month. 鈥淎nd I think a whole lot of Americans likewise don鈥檛 trust the Republicans and the Democrats, because it is leadership in both parties that has gotten us in this mess.鈥�

Price, on the other hand, sees the budget conference as an expeditious way to achieve key conservative goals.

He鈥檇 like significant reforms to entitlement programs like Medicare and Medicaid to be up for discussion, and he sees the conference as a great way to help the bipartisan drive for a sweeping reform of the tax code. As a bottom line, Price wants a return to the 鈥淏oehner Rule鈥� of 2011, which called for each dollar of debt-ceiling increase to be offset by the same amount of debt reduction or spending cuts.

All three of those requirements are favorites among the congressional GOP鈥檚 most conservative clique.

But the Georgia Republican kept an open mind about what, exactly, could be in the budget negotiation because 鈥渨e鈥檙e trying to be the ones moving the ball forward for solutions, and being wedded to just one [debt ceiling requirement] is not helpful to the discussion at this point.鈥�

What would be helpful, Price stressed, was for House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R) of Wisconsin and his Senate counterpart, Sen. Patty Murray (D) of Washington, to figure out what the parameters of the budget conference would be.

While Price wants the conference committee to get going as far away from the October or November debt-ceiling deadline as possible to avoid sending Washington back into 鈥渃risis mode,鈥� he said, there are still issues that need to be worked out before such a conference committee could begin.

Price commended Senator Murray and Representative Ryan for continuing to meet with 鈥済reat regularity鈥� to determine just what, exactly, will be on the table in the budget negotiation.

鈥淕oing to conference requires some parameters,鈥� Price said. 鈥淚f it鈥檚 just a free-for-all, then it becomes more of an opportunity for the demagoguery and the partisan back-and-forth that won鈥檛 reach any solutions.鈥�