Thereís precedent for a bipartisan group like the ěGang of Sixî to succeed in finding solutions after Congress and blue-ribbon panels run into gridlock. But it requires two things of its members: the courage to make tough decisions and the maturity to compromise.
The Gang of Six is a group of senators seeking a plan to rein in the deficit. A similar but slightly larger group ó the Gang of Seven ó came to the rescue in 1982 when Social Security was in imminent danger of going broke.
Bob Dole retells the story in ěUnlimited Partners,î the dual biography he and wife Elizabeth updated in 1996. He was among the people President Reagan appointed to the bipartisan National Commission on Social Security Reform, along with Alan Greenspan, AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland and others. The Reagan Administration refused to raise payroll taxes to come up with the $150 billion to $175 billion needed to put the system on sound footing, and Speaker of the House Tip OíNeill refused to cut benefits. The commission worked for months but got nowhere.
When all seemed lost, Democratic Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan approached Dole and said he was encouraged by the ěrelatively modest stepsî Dole had described in a piece he wrote for the Washington Post. Others were brought into the conversation in the ensuing days, growing into the Gang of Seven and taking up residence at Chief of Staff Jim Bakerís home. ěIt was the start of an eleven-day marathon, conducted without staffers and under strict security,î Dole writes.
Without Reagan or OíNeill in the discussion, the group reached middle ground and, through a series of phone calls, convinced the president and speaker that they had a workable plan.
ěNo one was ecstatic over a package that would postpone cost-of-living increases …. would accelerate the schedule of payroll taxes and would give a tax credit for workers and employers to help offset any economic dislocation caused by the change.The retirement age would gradually be raised from 65 to 67. Upper income retirees would pay income tax on half their Social Security benefits.
ěStill, it was the best a democratic government could do.î
Reagan didnít draw a line on taxes and refuse to step over it. For the good of the nation, he and his supporters softened their stance on taxes, and OíNeill and the Democrats did the same regarding benefits. Thatís the way todayís debt-ceiling debate will have to be solved ó by compromise. No one will be ecstatic, but nor will the country go into default.