Georgia’s Tom Price a central figure in D.C. drama
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. If allowed to take full effect, those steps have the potential to set off another deep recession. So the future looks much like the past, with weeks of drama, confrontation, intrigue and brinksmanship 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 Roswell 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 directly affect the course of national politics.
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.
The day after the election, for example, at a moment when the rest of the nation was still trying to digest what happened, 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 significantly reduce the deficit 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 and continues to reject the notion of compromise with Democrats. Last week, for example, House Speaker John Boehner made the logical point that with the president’s re-election, ObamaCare is now certain to survive. But in an interview on Fox News Sunday, Price refused to make that concession, insisting that Republicans will continue to fight it at every turn.
Cathy McMorris Rodgers addresses the 2012 Republican National Convention. (AP)
Price has also decided to seek the chairmanship of the House Republican Conference, the No. 4 position in the House hierarchy. There too, he is bumping heads with Boehner, who has thrown his support behind the conference vice chair, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington.
If elected conference chair, McMorris Rodgers would become the only woman in a major leadership role in the House GOP. (For example, none of the 21 House committees is chaired by a woman.) That’s a major image problem for a party having serious trouble attracting female voters. McMorris Rodgers is also more moderate than Price, who is trying to rally fellow House conservatives to his cause.
The race between Price and McMorris Rodgers — to be decided in a secret ballot among House Republicans — will be watched as a test of Boehner’s strength and influence within his caucus. Price is considered the underdog, but should he win, it would bode poorly for Boehner’s ability to deliver his caucus on important budget votes in the next few months.
However, if Price loses, that too could have a serious impact on the national debate over revenue and spending. If his ambitions are frustrated in the House, Price becomes much more likely to take on Chambliss in the 2014 Republican Senate primary. His strategy would be to hang the dreaded RINO nametag around the neck of Georgia’s senior senator, depicting Chambliss as a sellout to the GOP cause.
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 in the budget debate.
Should a backlash develop among the GOP base here at home, the senator may be forced to decide whether addressing a major national challenge is worth significant risk to his political future.
It is.
– Jay Bookman
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
894 comments Add your comment
They BOTH suck
November 12th, 2012
7:47 pm
“Only if you want to spoil his pout.”
That is good. Don’t recall ever hearing that line.
Nunna Yobinnes
November 12th, 2012
7:47 pm
Not everyone is on food stamps and low-income housing.
Nunna Yobinnes
November 12th, 2012
7:48 pm
Josef – You do understand the term “leaches” don’t you?
Orange12
November 12th, 2012
7:48 pm
“Democrats hate successful people that don’t need government assistance to prosper.”
Only if they are running for President on the Republican ticket.
josef
November 12th, 2012
7:48 pm
DOGGONE
Far be if from me to do such a dastardly deed…bless his heart.
Brosephus™
November 12th, 2012
7:49 pm
josef
It’s bad when a poster can’t deliver an insult worth a damn.
Fred ™
November 12th, 2012
7:49 pm
Democrats hate successful people that don’t need government assistance to prosper.
That is a talk radio/FOXbot bumper sticker lie that no one with a rational thought in their head would ever believe. Why would you post something so insipid?
josef
November 12th, 2012
7:51 pm
Yobidness
Leaches…or leeches? I do understand the meaning of both. Which were you referring to here?
Nunna Yobinnes
November 12th, 2012
7:51 pm
Fred – Why is it then that you’re not clamoring for across the board tax increases? Why only the wealthy?
Nunna Yobinnes
November 12th, 2012
7:52 pm
The parasitic variety.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
November 12th, 2012
7:54 pm
You do understand the term “leaches”[sic] don’t you?
Oh, the irony.
Doggone/GA
November 12th, 2012
7:54 pm
“Why would you post something so insipid?”
Lack of ability to think for himself?
josef
November 12th, 2012
7:55 pm
Yobidness
Then that would be “leeches…” not “leaches…” Some, though, especially in the upper 1% do fall into both categories…
Fred ™
November 12th, 2012
7:55 pm
Nunna Yobinnes
November 12th, 2012
7:51 pm
Fred – Why is it then that you’re not clamoring for across the board tax increases? Why only the wealthy?
++++++++++++++++++++++++
And even MORE talk radio/FOXbot bumper sticker lies.
Obviosuly you haven’t a fcking clue WHAT I’m clamoring for. You are just tossing out crap ball lies towards a wall like a troll to see what sticks.
Keep trying, maybe you will actually post something lucid……..
Nunna Yobinnes
November 12th, 2012
7:56 pm
Well, since I can’t think for myself, please explain why you’re not clamoring for across the board tax increases? Is it right for some people to not pay a penny in tax while others pay 39.6%?
Nunna Yobinnes
November 12th, 2012
7:57 pm
Look. I don’t watch FOX. I don’t listen to Rush. You can’t think for yourself, thus we get the same old Fox/Limbaugh garbage. Explain it rather than changing the subject.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
November 12th, 2012
7:58 pm
Is it right for some people to not pay a penny in tax while others pay 39.6%?
Not this crap again.
All consumers pay taxes, sport.
And it’s more than a mere penny.
Doggone/GA
November 12th, 2012
7:58 pm
“Obviosuly you haven’t a fcking clue WHAT I’m clamoring for. You are just tossing out crap ball lies towards a wall like a troll to see what sticks”
Countdown to “I must have hit a nerve” in 3 … 2 … 1
Dekalb comments
November 12th, 2012
7:59 pm
Has anyone seen Mighty Righty since the election? It has been nearly a week since he gave his prediction of a Romney win. I just want to be sure he is okay and if not, if there are provisions under Obamacare that can help.
Nunna Yobinnes
November 12th, 2012
8:00 pm
State sales tax are not a US congressional issue.
Doggone/GA
November 12th, 2012
8:00 pm
“Is it right for some people to not pay a penny in tax while others pay 39.6%?”
There’s no one who doesn’t pay a penny in tax. You need a better rant. That one we’ve heard at least a million times already. It’s lost it’s ability to shock. Try harder.
Nunna Yobinnes
November 12th, 2012
8:02 pm
Certainly you can see how a casual observer reading your comments would come to the conclusion that you want to raise taxes on the rich with no mention of anyone else incurring a similar tax increase.
Orange12
November 12th, 2012
8:02 pm
They must be kidding. How could they do such a terrible thing?
http://money.msn.com/top-stocks/post.aspx?post=0a348ed9-51e9-4cf3-84a9-3cc087d92bb6
Nunna Yobinnes
November 12th, 2012
8:03 pm
There are a great many people who pay no INCOME tax. Sales tax is another matter. You have to work to pay FICA taxes. What am I missing.
Nunna Yobinnes
November 12th, 2012
8:04 pm
Doggone – can’t offer an explanation, huh? It’s ok for you to say that instead of the diversion crap.
josef
November 12th, 2012
8:05 pm
K’CHAK
@ 7:54
Sic transit Kamchak.
FRED
Sois sage! Nous ne voulons pas que tu vas aux 40 plus bas de la plantation libérale!
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
November 12th, 2012
8:05 pm
State sales tax are not a US congressional issue.
Moving the goalposts, you said “not pay a penny in tax.”
But aside from that, perhaps you should google federal excise tax,
Nunna Yobinnes
November 12th, 2012
8:07 pm
Kamchak – as the discussion related to the House of Representatives, I was under the impression that we were talking about Federal income taxes.
Orange12
November 12th, 2012
8:08 pm
Everybody on here knows Nunna is talking income tax.
Doggone/GA
November 12th, 2012
8:08 pm
“State sales tax are not a US congressional issue”
I hope you didn’t strain anything moving those goal posts
Nunna Yobinnes
November 12th, 2012
8:09 pm
My apologies. Evidently I should have specified Federal income tax. That seemed to be the vein of conversation. Bad assumption on my part, I suppose.
Doggone/GA
November 12th, 2012
8:09 pm
“There are a great many people who pay no INCOME tax”
Moved ‘em again I see.
Doggone/GA
November 12th, 2012
8:10 pm
“Everybody on here knows Nunna is talking income tax”
Not me. I flunked mind reading 101 and my crystal ball is broken.
Nunna Yobinnes
November 12th, 2012
8:10 pm
Moved who or what?
Nunna Yobinnes
November 12th, 2012
8:12 pm
So you thought we were discussion the congressman from Roswell, the US House Speaker, et al and that it was related to sales taxes/property taxes, etc.? Um, OK.
josef
November 12th, 2012
8:13 pm
DOGGONE
The Romany Lady says she’d loan you hers, but there’s what looks like an ass clouding the reception!
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
November 12th, 2012
8:14 pm
…as the discussion related to the House of Representatives, I was under the impression that we were talking about Federal income taxes.
Isn’t that quaint, him believes that we haven’t heard this dozens of times before, complete with the requisite walking it back.
Doggone/GA
November 12th, 2012
8:15 pm
“The Romany Lady says she’d loan you hers, but there’s what looks like an ass clouding the reception!”
Tell her I said thanks!
Nunna Yobinnes
November 12th, 2012
8:16 pm
Kamchak – Do you ever stay on the subject?
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
November 12th, 2012
8:17 pm
Do you ever stay on the subject?
Did you google federal excise tax?
Doggone/GA
November 12th, 2012
8:18 pm
“Isn’t that quaint, him believes that we haven’t heard this dozens of times before, complete with the requisite walking it back”
I’m still trying to figure out what the US House of Representatives has to do with “sales taxes/property taxes”
josef
November 12th, 2012
8:20 pm
Doggone
That train of thought ain’t got no conductor…
Nunna Yobinnes
November 12th, 2012
8:22 pm
Doggone – Evidently you like to comment without reading the posts to which you are replying. Are you really that stupid that you can’t make the connection?
Kamchak – No but I realize that people who drive a car pay gasoline taxes, and the people who buy foreign goods pay tarriffs, etc. As we were discussing the process of reaching Federal income tax compromises, I naturally assumed that was the topic of discussion, rather than local taxes, etc.
Doggone/GA
November 12th, 2012
8:23 pm
“That train of thought ain’t got no conductor”
I’m not sure it even has a driver!
Nunna Yobinnes
November 12th, 2012
8:23 pm
Just like Democrats. Ignore substance, concentrate on semantics.
Doggone/GA
November 12th, 2012
8:24 pm
“Are you really that stupid that you can’t make the connection?”
Isn’t that what your dear leaders have been saying? We’re too stupid to understand the message? Looks like it must be true.
Tundra Dude
November 12th, 2012
8:24 pm
That train of thought ain’t got no conductor
hehehehhheee…
Nunna Yobinnes
November 12th, 2012
8:26 pm
Doggone – well at least you finally acknowledged it. You’ve taken your first step towards enlightenment.
Doggone/GA
November 12th, 2012
8:26 pm
“Ignore substance”
Substance?
josef
November 12th, 2012
8:26 pm
Yobidness
Semantics is the fundamental element of human discourse…say what you mean, and mean what you say.
moonbat betty
November 12th, 2012
8:27 pm
Geez!
Can someone please call in the confederate guys?
F. Sinkwich
November 12th, 2012
8:27 pm
I’d vote for McMorris. She looks pretty hot.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
November 12th, 2012
8:27 pm
As we were discussing the process of reaching Federal income tax compromises…
No and again I quote, “not pay a penny in tax”.
You think you’ve got those goalposts mounted on Pedregon’s funny car, but you don’t.
Doggone/GA
November 12th, 2012
8:28 pm
“You’ve taken your first step towards enlightenment.”
I’m not really sure I want the kind of enlightenment that enables me to understand the sort of gobbledegook you’ve been passing off a “substance”
Nunna Yobinnes
November 12th, 2012
8:30 pm
Doggone – Yes I was referring to the topic of Federal income taxes as I have explained several times. You don’t seem to see how Kamchak’s comments referred to the broader spectrum of taxes, which I had not contemplated being a part of this discussion, as we were dealing with Congress. I don’t know which is worse to be stupid or to deliberately act that way.
Nunna Yobinnes
November 12th, 2012
8:32 pm
Doggone – then explain why you don’t want to raise FEDERAL INCOME TAXES across the board. (Hope that the emphasis clarified things for you.)
Doggone/GA
November 12th, 2012
8:32 pm
“I don’t know which is worse to be stupid or to deliberately act that way.”
So which are you?
Nunna Yobinnes
November 12th, 2012
8:33 pm
You go first.
Doggone/GA
November 12th, 2012
8:34 pm
“then explain why you don’t want to raise FEDERAL INCOME TAXES across the board”
Sorry, I’m too stupid to explain it.
josef
November 12th, 2012
8:34 pm
moonbat
K’chak, Fred, and I tried…I think Big Daddy must be out…and that may be a good thing…we may be able to call somebody a delusional lickspittle and get by with it…
Nunna Yobinnes
November 12th, 2012
8:34 pm
Thought so.
barking frog
November 12th, 2012
8:35 pm
Enter your comments here
F. Sinkwich
November 12th, 2012
8:35 pm
“I’d vote for McMorris. She looks pretty hot.”
I must add, however, Price has done a wonderful job. This country needs many more like him in elective office.
Nunna Yobinnes
November 12th, 2012
8:35 pm
You want somebody to pay more taxes, as long as it’s not you.
barking frog
November 12th, 2012
8:37 pm
josef
fred was chastised for “delusional lickspittle wannabe”
josef
November 12th, 2012
8:37 pm
Yobidness
I have no problem with paying more taxes.
bob
November 12th, 2012
8:38 pm
Stands for, Repubs did not lose the house, they did not win the white house. Dems have pushed for tax increases so why are they now against them ? Oh that’s right, they are only for increases for the rich because their constituency does not want to pay their fair share. Do the math, if we increase the rates prior to the cuts then we get 90 billion, the debt has averaged 1.25 trillion over the last 4 years, we need more taxpayers. Whats good for the goose is good for the gander.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
November 12th, 2012
8:38 pm
“When delusional lickspittle is outlawed, only outlaws will have delusional lickspittle.”
– Thomas “Fred” Jefferson
josef
November 12th, 2012
8:38 pm
FROG
Ah, so it was the wannabe!
JamVet
November 12th, 2012
8:39 pm
Price has done a wonderful job.
Please expound.
LOL!
Nunna Yobinnes
November 12th, 2012
8:40 pm
As a lot of the complaints about FEDERAL INCOME TAXES seems to center on the LTCG tax rates, does it not seem fair to you that since the lower income and middle class pay zero percent on LTCG, why does it bother you that the “wealthy” only pay 20%?
josef
November 12th, 2012
8:40 pm
K’CHAK
@ 8:38
moonbat betty
November 12th, 2012
8:40 pm
If someone uses the term ” lickspittle” again they need to be taxed.
Nunna Yobinnes
November 12th, 2012
8:42 pm
Josef – neither do I, I just think it is not appropriate for some Americans to pay no tax at all. You want to raise taxes? OK – just don’t go overboard and eliminate freeloaders.
Doggone/GA
November 12th, 2012
8:44 pm
“I just think it is not appropriate for some Americans to pay no tax at all. ”
You’ll find it odd, I know…but we’d already figured that out.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
November 12th, 2012
8:45 pm
If someone uses the term ” lickspittle” again they need to be taxed.
“You can tax my lickspittle when you can pry it from my cold, dead hands.”
– Thomas “Fred Charlton” Jefferson
Nunna Yobinnes
November 12th, 2012
8:45 pm
Gosh, my punctuation marks are such that I can see the ridicule in advance. “Overboard” pertains to the tax increases. FEDERAL INCOME TAXES I failed to specify again. Forgive me.
sam
November 12th, 2012
8:46 pm
lickspittle
josef
November 12th, 2012
8:47 pm
YOBIDNESS
And there you go with that “no taxes at all” again…you’re shooting yourself in the foot and removing the true poutrage of your argument…
moonbat betty
November 12th, 2012
8:47 pm
Tax
Tax
barking frog
November 12th, 2012
8:48 pm
Nunna,
Yobinnes is not moving forward…
Nunna Yobinnes
November 12th, 2012
8:48 pm
Like I saw on one of these discussions, I’ve never gotten a paycheck from a poor employer. I’m not poor, but I certainly am not rich. I do pay my FEDERAL INCOME TAXES and State INCOME TAXES however. Does it make a lot of sense to only increase the FEDERAL INCOME TAXES of the people who sign the paychecks?
barking frog
November 12th, 2012
8:49 pm
sam
you will be attaxed shortly..
Nunna Yobinnes
November 12th, 2012
8:50 pm
Josef – hence I attempted to correct my remarks @ 8:45. I just didn’t post fast enough to slip by all of your great minds.
josef
November 12th, 2012
8:51 pm
Ah. so! One picture worth thousand words.
–Thomas Confucius Jefferson
http://kelleystein.girthmcdurchstein.com/images/albums/lickspittle-large.jpg
barking frog
November 12th, 2012
8:52 pm
Nunna,
The government must tax people who have money.
Doggone/GA
November 12th, 2012
8:52 pm
“Does it make a lot of sense to only increase the FEDERAL INCOME TAXES of the people who sign the paychecks?”
Since you are so sure you already know what we think…there’s no need to answer your questions.
F. Sinkwich
November 12th, 2012
8:52 pm
“Price has done a wonderful job.
Please expound.”
Such a thing is obvious to even the most mentally deficient.
So maybe not to Jammie…
RF
November 12th, 2012
8:52 pm
Oh my,now why can’t we all get along like they are in D.C. right now? I swanee, you’d think raising taxes on the wealthy and immigration reform were straight out of the Bible the way our guys are talking.
Nunna Yobinnes
November 12th, 2012
8:53 pm
They should tax ALL people.
Nunna Yobinnes
November 12th, 2012
8:55 pm
Doggone – I know. You don’t have an answer. That’s OK.
Orange12
November 12th, 2012
8:55 pm
“all of your great minds”
WHAT????
RF
November 12th, 2012
8:57 pm
“They should tax ALL people”
Ahhhhhmmm, Mitt my boy, you LOST. Let go of the 47% who got with their friends and whooped yo’ butt.
barking frog
November 12th, 2012
8:58 pm
Nunna,
people with no money cannot pay taxes.
josef
November 12th, 2012
8:58 pm
YOBIDNESS
The problem is, you could raise the income tax the same on everybody and still have figures like the ones you’re citing. Raise the income of those classes, and you might decrease those statistics…it’s a matter of legitimate deductions.
Nunna Yobinnes
November 12th, 2012
8:58 pm
Orange12 – an overstatement for emphasis. They want me to say that they’re not sharp enough to catch it, but I won’t give them the satisfaction.
Nunna Yobinnes
November 12th, 2012
8:59 pm
barking frog – but they can pay for health insurance and pay penalties if they don’t purchase it?
josef
November 12th, 2012
9:00 pm
YOBIDNESS
In 25 words or less, what FROG says…
RF
November 12th, 2012
9:00 pm
“I just think it is not appropriate for some Americans to pay no tax at all.”
Lot of folks work but don’t make enough to owe income tax. Those people also spend all their income and pay sales taxes, gas tax, etc., etc. Why the obsession over income tax? A good percentage of those who don’t pay are elderly- I think they’ve earned that right after years of working and paying SS for their parents’ generation.
Doesn't Matter
November 12th, 2012
9:01 pm
In my 65 years I have seen our flag flying thousands and thousands of times but when you have seen it flying in a foreign land over battleground defended by Americans the emotion is an overwhelming one that forever lives within.