Roskam: Debt deal can be reached, eventually

Chief Deputy Whip Peter Roskam of Wheaton, the highest ranking Illinois member of the House GOP, said Friday he believes a debt ceiling agreement can be reached with Democrats, but it may not be until the eleventh hour.

President Obama and Republican House Speaker John Boehner have shown optimism that such a deal can be reached well before the nation faces default Aug. 2.

But Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi have expressed more skepticism.

“Congress tends to be a crisis-driven institution,” Roskam said. “You have 435 members representing over 300 million people and in order to gain consensus there’s got to be strong pressure all the way around.”

Deciding whether to extend the debt ceiling, he warned, “is not something where you want to make a deal for the sake of making a deal.”

Roskam outlined several Republican priorities to reach that deal.

First, he said, cuts for 2012 must be significant.

Second, he said, “you’ve got to build into future budget processes a restraint on future spending.”

Finally, he called for “wrestling to the ground” some entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid that are “going broke.”

Kenilworth Republican Robert Dold noted last week that it was difficult to keep abreast of negotiations while at home in the district.

That is easing, Roskam said.

Roskam, as a member of House GOP leadership, has been involved in twice-weekly debt ceiling “listening sessions” with more junior members when they are in Washington.

Roskam called those meetings “incredibly robust. I learn something out of every one of those meetings. ... and I think the clarity, that’s come for (other members).”