The Budget Conference Committee

Patty Murray, D-Wash.

Chairwoman, Senate Budget Committee

Murray is considered very close to Senate leadership and has been the party’s point person this year on budget issues. She also has frequently been a leader of bipartisan negotiations, and in those talks she defends government programs and what she calls fairness in economic policies. She co-chaired the “supercommittee.” Full profile »

Fiscal deal vote: Yes

First elected: 1992

Ron Wyden, D-Ore.

The chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Wyden is known as a liberal who’s willing to collaborate with the GOP on policy blueprints. Notably, that included a 2011 Medicare policy paper with House Budget Chairman Paul D. Ryan. Considered the most likely successor to the retiring Finance Chairman Max Baucus, Wyden supports simplifying the tax code. Full profile »

Fiscal deal vote: Yes

First elected: 1996

Bill Nelson, D-Fla.

A senior Armed Services panel member, Nelson has expressed concern over recent defense cuts; in the 112th Congress he suggested putting off further cuts for a year so Congress could study the issue. He has sought to require drugmakers to give the government price breaks on medications sold to “dual eligibles” — people who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid. Full profile »

Fiscal deal vote: Yes

First elected: 2000

Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.

The main shepherd in the Senate for the farm bill, Agriculture Chairwoman Stabenow has worked across the aisle to negotiate budget savings. During the deficit reduction talks of 2011, Stabenow helped pull together potential cuts to farm and nutrition programs for negotiators to consider. The recommendations became the starting point for the Senate’s 2012 farm bill. Full profile »

Fiscal deal vote: Yes

First elected: 2000

Bernard Sanders, I-Vt.

Most of Sanders’ thoughts on government and the economy could be called populist; he has a devoted following among liberal activists. He stridently protects Social Security benefits and criticizes corporate America. A proponent of tax increases on the wealthy, he gave an eight-hour floor speech in 2010 in opposition to renewing the George W. Bush-era tax cuts. Full profile »

Fiscal deal vote: Yes

First elected: 2006

Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.

A former federal prosecutor and state attorney general, Whitehouse has promoted fiscal proposals that include a more progressive tax code. During the 2012 election season, the Budget Committee member led the Senate charge for the so-called Buffett Rule, which would have imposed a 30 percent minimum tax on income over $1 million. Full profile »

Fiscal deal vote: Yes

First elected: 2006

Mark Warner, D-Va.

A former governor and technology-focused venture capital executive, Warner has attempted to serve as a consensus-builder on economic issues. In 2011, he was part of a bipartisan Senate “gang” that tried to produce a budget proposal including $4 trillion in deficit reduction that included tax revenue and entitlement cuts. He has a reputation as a fiscal conservative. Full profile »

Fiscal deal vote: Yes

First elected: 2008

Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.

Merkley, who is also on the Appropriations and Banking panels, believes in government policies aimed at helping those on the middle and lower portions of the economic spectrum, including creating new consumer protections and expanding assistance programs. He criticized the 2011 debt limit agreement, calling the negotiations that led to the bill “extortion.” Full profile »

Fiscal deal vote: Yes

First elected: 2008

Chris Coons, D-Del.

Coons is among the lawmakers pushing for a permanent extension of the research and development tax credit, and he also studies ways to further its reach. He and GOP conferee Michael B. Enzi have proposed allowing startup companies to claim the credit against employment taxes instead of income taxes, since startups might not have income to tax. Full profile »

Fiscal deal vote: Yes

First elected: 2010

Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.

As a House member, Baldwin pushed the “Buffett Rule.” In the Senate, she continues to frame spending in liberal terms but has backed measures to help Midwestern manufacturers. The Senate’s 2014 budget included her plan for a “deficit-neutral reserve fund to create regional manufacturing hubs that develop and deploy new manufacturing technologies,” as she put it. Full profile »

Fiscal deal vote: Yes

First elected: 2012

Tim Kaine, D-Va.

Kaine advocates “regular order” and annual budgets as a means to improve the nation’s fiscal situation. His first floor speech protested the sequester. Like fellow conferee Mark Warner, he is a former Virginia governor known for fiscal conservatism. Kaine and the state’s General Assembly worked to make up more than $7 billion in shortfalls after the 2008 financial crisis. Full profile »

Fiscal deal vote: Yes

First elected: 2012

Angus King, I-Maine

As governor, King sought to reduce Maine’s business taxes, though the state still ranked fairly high in tax burdens as he departed. His state uses biennial budgeting, and King wouldn’t mind seeing the federal government do so also. He is wary of plans to “squeeze and change” Medicare. Full profile »

Fiscal deal vote: Yes

First elected: 2012

Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.

Ranking member, Budget Committee

Sessions wants a balanced budget within 10 years. He sells the GOP vision for overhauling welfare programs, and sees hazards in long-term reliance on safety net programs and in the argument they help the economy. He opposed the 2011 debt limit deal because it created the “supercommittee,” which was to meet behind closed doors. Full profile »

Fiscal deal vote: No

First elected: 1996

Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa

As the former top Republican on Senate Finance, Grassley worked with top Democrat (and current chairman) Max Baucus to help clear the way for President George W. Bush’s 2001 tax cuts. More recently, he was one of eight senators to oppose the “fiscal cliff” deal, which extended the Bush rates only for earnings under $400,000. He called it “a fiscal farce.” Full profile »

Fiscal deal vote: No

First elected: 1980

Michael B. Enzi, R-Wyo.

Enzi was part of a bipartisan “gang” that sought a budget deal in 2011, and spoke favorably of the Simpson-Bowles plan. He has proposed an international taxation bill meant to help U.S. companies compete with foreign counterparts. He has long supported letting states collect sales taxes from online retailers outside their borders. The Senate passed a bill to that effect this year. Full profile »

Fiscal deal vote: No

First elected: 1996

Michael D. Crapo, R-Idaho

Crapo, the top Republican on Senate Banking, was part of the bipartisan “gang” that tried to find $4 trillion in deficit reduction based on the Simpson-Bowles framework. He also seeks a less “unfair” and “anti-competitive” tax system. Crapo wants any major fiscal deal to include entitlement changes, and is particularly intrigued by a “premium support” model. Full profile »

Fiscal deal vote: No

First elected: 1998

Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

The candid Graham occasionally bucks his party, but is a conservative at heart. A staunch defense hawk and Air Force reservist, he opposed the 2011 debt deal, fearing Pentagon cuts. He favors upping Social Security’s retirement age and means-testing for benefits. He wants any federal revenue increases to come from ending tax preferences for certain industries. Full profile »

Fiscal deal vote: Yes

First elected: 2002

Rob Portman, R-Ohio

A former House member, Portman has plenty of fiscal expertise: He served as U.S. trade representative and OMB director under President George W. Bush, and sat on the “supercommittee” in his first year as a senator. Portman is a strong believer in spending cuts, and has sought structural changes to entitlement programs to reduce the growth of their costs. Full profile »

Fiscal deal vote: Yes

First elected: 2010

Patrick J. Toomey, R-Pa.

Toomey’s economic agenda reflects the philosophy of the Club for Growth, the low-tax, free-market advocacy group he once led. But he is not wary of compromising; he sat on the “supercommittee,” where he floated a plan that included an estimated $750 billion in cuts and a purported $500 billion in new revenues, found partly by limiting tax deductions for top earners. Full profile »

Fiscal deal vote: No

First elected: 2010

Ron Johnson, R-Wis.

Johnson, a successful plastics manufacturer, believes the government’s size is a drag on economic growth. And he wants to bring entitlement programs — the bulk of federal spending — into the discretionary budget. He also signed onto a bipartisan bill that would limit all discretionary and mandatory spending to a percentage of the gross domestic product. Full profile »

Fiscal deal vote: No

First elected: 2010

Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H.

Ayotte quickly emerged as a defense hawk, campaigning against the sequester’s cuts to the Pentagon budget. She has proposed alternative cuts, and also has looked to reassign defense funds to purposes she considers more useful. Overall, however, she speaks of a need to reduce deficits, and in 2011 voted to add a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution. Full profile »

Fiscal deal vote: Yes

First elected: 2010

Roger Wicker, R-Miss.

Wicker tries to put the country’s fiscal situation in folksy terms. “What we need to do is approach it as a family does that has fallen on hard times,” he told a newspaper. But he nonetheless has his spending priorities: He has sought federal assistance related to recovery from hurricanes and the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and he opposed the sequester’s defense cuts. Full profile »

Fiscal deal vote: Yes

First elected: 2008

Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis.

Chairman, House Budget Committee

The 2012 GOP vice presidential nominee is the face of his party’s fiscal agenda. He argues the nation is headed for a debt crisis absent major policy changes. His recent House budgets have proposed converting Medicare into a voucher-based “premium support” program for those under 55, cutting trillions in spending over a decade and simplifying the tax code. Full profile »

Fiscal deal vote: No

First elected: 1998

Diane Black, R-Tenn.

Member, Budget Committee

Black supports a simpler and what she calls a fairer tax code. Her definition of “fairer” is that “everyone pays something as long as they’re able.” She also favors changing what she sees as a “broken” budget process, and has introduced a bill to switch to using joint budget resolutions with the force of law — meaning they would require passage in both chambers and the president’s signature. Full profile »

Fiscal deal vote: No

First elected: 2010

Tom Cole, R-Okla.

Member, Budget Committee

A close ally of Speaker John A. Boehner, Cole has frequently denounced tax increases but in 2012 he said the GOP could allow taxes to rise on the top 2 percent of earners to take the issue off the table. The final “fiscal cliff” deal raised taxes on earnings above $400,000. A member of the Defense Appropriations panel, he has described further cuts in that area as disastrous. Full profile »

Fiscal deal vote: Yes

First elected: 2002

Tom Price, R-Ga.

Member, Budget Committee

Price is firmly against tax rate increases, and he has pushed to eliminate the IRS and replace most federal taxes with a national sales tax. He also backs spending reductions, including rescinding $45 billion in fiscal 2013 funding that has not yet been obligated. A former chairman of the Republican Study Committee, his support for any deal could help win over conservatives. Full profile »

Fiscal deal vote: No

First elected: 2004

Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.

RRanking member, Budget Committee

Van Hollen provides the Democrats’ most direct response to Paul D. Ryan, trying to pick apart in hearings and interviews the Republican’s fiscal blueprints and arguing that his tax plans run counter to the idea that everyone should pay a fair share. Van Hollen edges to the middle on some economic matters, for instance, voting for the 2011 debt deal and supporting another pact earlier that year to trim spending. Full profile »

Fiscal deal vote: Yes

First elected: 2002

James Clyburn, D-S.C.

Assistant minority leader

Clyburn sat on the “supercommittee,” where he reflected White House opposition to cutting entitlement programs unless there were GOP concessions on tax increases. “We’re not going to sit there and agree to anything that puts an uneven and unfair burden on the least among us,” he said. He was one of 38 House members to vote in support of the Simpson-Bowles plan. Full profile »

Fiscal deal vote: Yes

First elected: 1992

Nita M. Lowey, D-N.Y.

Ranking member, Appropriations Committee

Lowey finds Appropriations a prominent platform from which to promote her liberal views, but she isn’t a hard-liner for increased spending: She voted for a fiscal 2011 package that cut spending by $40 billion, as well as that year’s debt limit deal. Like most New York lawmakers, however, she does seek more spending on homeland security. Full profile »

Fiscal deal vote: Yes

First elected: 1988