The AJC caught up with Georgia's senators, both Republicans, Tuesday to get their thoughts on the debt ceiling compromise.
Sen. Johnny Isakson said the 74-26 vote in the Senate was historic. "For first time in my public life we actually have a bill that requires government spending to be cut," he said.
He also noted that the compromise bill included key concepts that he enunciated in a speech on the Senate floor Saturday. Those concepts included bringing a balanced budget amendment in front of the Congress, splitting the budget cuts into two phases, and designing a way to force Congress to actually make the second round of cuts. (The plan that passed would trigger automatic cuts to popular programs, including defense spending, if lawmakers fail to act by the end of the year.)
All three are part of the bill. "I suggested what ended up happening," he said shortly before Tuesday's vote.
Isakson credited tea party conservatives for pushing Republicans toward the showdown. He added that this summer's negotiations will probably be echoed in any future discussion of the debt ceiling. "I don’t think there will ever be another vote to raise the debt ceiling without a vote to require cuts."
Voting against the agreement was Sen. Saxby Chambliss, whose work to design a deficit reduction plan as part of the the so-called "Gang of Six" was shelved as the debate came down to the wire.
"First of all, it doesn't go far enough," Chambliss said of the final plan after the vote. "If you don’t have a deficit reduction package in the range of $4 trillion, then you're not sending the right message to the marketplace that you're serious about getting your fiscal house in order."
He also predicted that the spending caps that will hold Congress to the pledged $900 billion in first-round cuts will be sidestepped at the next national emergency. "We will bust those caps in the next year with droughts in the southwest, floods, forest fires. If they come in with a disaster package, they will bust those caps."
A bipartisan committee will be appointed by the leadership to come up with the additional $1.5 trillion in cuts required by the new bill, but Chambliss wants no part of it. "I've already been on enough committees and gangs here of late. I've already told the leadership: ‘Don’t even consider me.' "
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