Alaska senators join in support of bill

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the Republican, and Sen. Mark Begich, the Democrat, both elected after centrist campaigns, found parts not to like about the compromise, but both said it served the country well.

"Lisa and I have had this discussion in the past," Begich said. "She and I both probably felt that if we could've been in a room ourselves, we would've had this done a long time ago."

Begich wasn't happy about the failure of the compromise to raise new revenues by closing tax loopholes for America's wealthiest.

Murkowski said she was most concerned about the automatic, across-the-board cuts that would occur if Congress doesn't come up with targeted ones. The automatic cuts would likely hurt Alaskans more than specific ones would, she said.

"It's a little bit of everybody's plan," Murkowski said in a telephone interview. "It's important to recognize that this is not the perfect package, not for anybody, but we've come together and said we're going to keep this country from going into default, we're going to try to bring about a little bit of economic certainty, we're going to work aggressively to reduce spending, we're going to get this ship turned around."

In the House, Alaska's representative, Republican Don Young, was among the majority to vote Monday for the compromise. A spokeswoman said he wouldn't answer questions, but issued a statement in which he said the measure was "the best compromise we are going to get."

Murkowski lost the 2010 Republican primary to a tea-party candidate who complained she was too willing to compromise on budget and tax issues -- the formula that had other moderate Republicans looking over their shoulders when tea partiers objected to compromise on the debt bill. But Murkowski created her own formula in 2010, successfully appealing to the broader electorate in her historic write-in victory in November.

From her perspective, Murkowski said, she can appreciate "the dogged approach" of the tea party in pressing for a reduction in government spending when Democrats were still talking about stimulating the economy with more spending. But the debate became too extreme and irresponsible, she said, leading to market jitters and financial stress for Americans.

"We brought this anxiety and panic by pushing this right up until the end. Part of that standoff was because you had some folks who said defaulting is not going to be that bad. Baloney," Murkowski said. "We've not ever been in that place and we should never be in that place -- not the United States of America. We shouldn't be playing chicken with our economic future, and I think there were some who were willing us take us down that road, who did not view that any form of compromise was going to be good."

Both Murkowski and Begich said tax reform should continue to be on the table, and should be taken up by the select bipartisan committee that was established by the compromise legislation to find additional ways to reduce the deficit.

Alaska's senators said they weren't seeking higher tax rates, but reduction or elimination of special-interest tax breaks. Even though Democrats didn't get the revenue increases they were seeking, the approaching expiration of the Bush-era tax cuts was "part of the calculation" that made the compromise acceptable to them, Murkowski said.

Begich said he wanted a $4 trillion deficit reduction that included additional revenue rather than the actual $2.1-plus trillion compromise without it.

Neither senator expects to be tapped by leadership to hold one of the six Senate seats on the select committee.

Begich said he was happy the compromise protected Social Security, Medicare and VA benefits.

"I am disappointed (because) the issues about tax loopholes, these gimmicks that people have been scheming and shamming the government, should've been part of this, but that's OK, we've got the (select) committee," he said.

Begich said he also hopes that even as Congress cuts back discretionary spending, that it still will make large investments in infrastructure and energy to insure future economic health.

Reach Richard Mauer at rmauer@adn.com or 257-4345.