Gang of Six Faces Daunting Task on Budget

The gang of six bipartisan senators who are trying to reach an agreement on a budget for 2012 face formidable obstacles. First they have to agree among themselves. And then they must build bipartisan support throughout Congress quickly or face certain failure, according to The Hill.

The six are Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., and Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va.; Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga.; Tom Coburn, R-Okla.; and Mike Crapo, R-Idaho. They’ve been working for weeks off the template that President Barack Obama’s fiscal commission created.

Some experts are skeptical about their chances. “I think the gang of six plan is as popular as it’s ever going to be right now because it’s not written down,” Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, told The Hill.