Akron Beacon Journal...
When the moment is right
August 13, 2011 

Watching Congress struggle to reach agreement on an increase in the debt ceiling, few observers have high hopes for the bipartisan legislative commission with the task of recommending ways to reduce the federal budget deficit by $1.5 trillion during the next decade. Perhaps there is incentive enough for a balanced and gradual approach given the automatic reductions in Medicare and defense spending if agreement cannot be reached. 

Perhaps Sen. Rob Portman will make the difference. Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, tapped the Ohio Republican as one of the 12 members of the commission. Portman knows the budget, having served as the budget chief for George W. Bush. He also knows how to work across party lines. 

In this instance, the stakes hardly could be higher, a fragile economy requiring keen management, balancing the priorities of job creation and putting the country’s fiscal house in order. Portman has talked about the harm in raising taxes. Will he join the Democrats and Republicans who already have acknowledged the need to increase revenues and cut spending to address the deficit? 

That has been the conclusion of other bipartisan commissions, one headed by Alice Rivlin and Pete Domenici and another led by Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson. 

Portman has pointed, bravely and rightly, to the need for means-testing entitlement programs, especially Medicare. Now the moment has arrived for getting past the partisan sniping and showing that Washington is capable of governing. It is a moment for Rob Portman to show his brand of leadership, recognizing the divided government requires compromise to move forward. 

Read it at the Akron Beacon Journal