Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) believes the Senate could get 70 votes for a comprehensive fiscal deal that would include revenue increases, spending cuts and entitlement reforms, Federal Times reports.
According to John Bennett, Warner and members of both parties have worked in secret to begin building such a deal.
Warner told a Washington conference Thursday members of both sides need to be mad at the deal for it to pass, Bennett reports.
He also cautioned Senate Democratic leaders against moving legislation that would get only six Republican votes, the report said.
The Senate will comprise of 53 Democrats, 45 Republicans and 2 independents when Congress starts its next term in January.
Economists believe Congress must pass a $1.2 trillion debt reduction measure and extend some tax cuts or the nation will enter into a new recession, according to Bennett’s article.
Cuts under sequestration, totaling more than $1 trillion over the next 10 years, are scheduled to kick in Jan. 2 unless lawmakers can move through a fiscal bill during the lame duck session.
