Walker and former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn of Georgia, who introduced Walker, called for Congress to approve a “grand bargain” in 2013 with the next president – whether it’s still Obama or Republican nominee Mitt Romney ¬– based on the recommendations of a deficit reduction commission Obama appointed two years ago but then failed to embrace.

“If the two parties do not get together, instead of kicking the can down the road … we will not solve the problem,” said Nunn, who serves as co-chairman of The Concord Coalition, a Washington, D.C.-based policy group that advocates for deficit reduction.