Will a New Congress Be More or Less Likely to Compromise on the Deficit?

After a year of talking about the growing federal deficit, one might guess that both Democrats and Republicans would feel compelled to have an adult conversation about the issue after the bipartisan debt-reduction commission reports its findings in December and a new Congress kicks off next year. The New York Times, however, reports that — if anything — the expected composition of the new Congress speaks to just the opposite result:

Democrats are all but certain to lose a number of seats and perhaps their majorities. Most of the casualties will be fiscally conservative Democrats from Republican-leaning areas, leaving a smaller, more solidly liberal caucus less inclined to support cost-saving changes in future Social Security benefits, for example.

Republicans’ ranks will almost certainly be strengthened by a wave of conservatives, including Tea Party loyalists, who are opposed to raising any taxes and to compromising with Democrats generally — a stand Congressional Republican leaders have adopted. And incumbents otherwise inclined to make deals are now wary, Republicans say privately, mindful of colleagues who lost primary challenges from Tea Party candidates.