Bayh: Obama willing to take on fellow Dems on deficit reduction

President Barack Obama is serious about bringing down the budget deficit and is willing to take on members of his own party to do so, Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) asserted Wednesday.

Bayh, a centrist Democrat who has made the deficit a focal point of his career in politics, acclaimed Obama for pledges to work toward a balanced budget after the two met at the White House on Tuesday.

"The good news is, based on my private conversation with him yesterday, one-on-one in the Oval Office -- the reason he called me down there is that he really knows this is an issue we have to deal with," Bayh said this morning during an appearance on MSNBC. "He wants to deal with getting the deficit down."

Bayh said that Obama was willing to tackle reform within the legislative process itself, as well as reform of earmarking, a practice which often receives criticism from Republicans.

Bayh relayed a sense that the president would be willing to take down fellow Democrats down the line in order to reduce the deficit as well.

"He's serious about this, that's why he called me there," the Indiana senator said. "He's willing to take some tough steps, even with members of our own party."

The senator acknowledged that addressing the deficit may be difficult at the moment due to a stagnant economy, but did say that he was inclined to support the health bill to have emerged Tuesday from the Senate Finance Committee, which the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) scored as deficit-neutral.