but that step, according to them is not even on the table. so i'm not saying republicans have to lead with tax cuts. that's not the argument. that's not what there a want or what they think is best and that's fair enough. but if you believe the deficit to be an overriding priority you have to be willing to put the single policy that did the most to bring us down to deficits, repealing it on to the table or letting it expire on to the table. and if not, and you are joking around with selling off ft. knox and selling off utah and liquidating whatever federal buildings we have, that may all be fine. if you aren't talking about the big drivers here, you're not being serious about it. >> one way they claim policy seriousness is they tend to form gangs. they take small groups of senators and they isolate them from the public spotlight and say, we want you guys to negotiate in secret, in private without the glare of the spotlight on you. we want you to give each other bipartisan cover and you guys come up with something that people who are acting in public would be too cowardly to do. one of these gangs right now, is, of course, the gang of six