Ryan Budget Could Stymie Senate’s 'Gang Of Six' On Deficit Bargain

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s 2012 budget resolution, set to pass the House this week, may kill closed-door bipartisan negotiations in the Senate over a grand deficit bargain.

The Senate Gang of Six has been meeting more frequently lately and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) delayed producing a Senate counterpart to Ryan’s budget resolution to accommodate the talks.

To get Democrats’ support, the Gang of Six is contemplating tax increases. But new taxes are absent from the Ryan budget.

Budget watchers are debating whether the Ryan budget is a line in the sand that signals the House will have no part of a bipartisan compromise, or an opening bid in future talks with supporters of the Gang of Six.

Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, served on President Obama’s debt commission and voted against its plan in December because it raised taxes and did not fundamentally transform Medicare.

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