One of the top issues on the minds of Delawareans is the debate in Washington over how to rein in our nation’s escalating budget deficit and staggering debt.

As the bipartisan negotiations continue between congressional leaders and the Obama administration, I am working hard to ensure that leaders in Washington take a balanced approach to deficit reduction. I am urging my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to craft a long-term deficit reduction plan that gets our fiscal house in order and gives businesses the certainty they need to create jobs here at home. In short, I am trying to share some of the lessons from the way we do things in Delaware – working together, finding common ground, adopting thoughtful compromises – in the hopes of finding an agreement that will best serve our country.

What Senator Carper Believes

Late last year, President Obama’s bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, co-chaired by former Republican Senator Alan Simpson and President Clinton’s former Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles, proposed reducing the deficit by $4 trillion over the next 10 years. Like the report issued by the commission, I suggest we start the conversation on how to reduce the deficit by putting everything on the table: domestic discretionary spending, defense spending, entitlement programs and taxes.

Other than the one put forward by President Obama’s commission, a number of other deficit reduction proposals are out there. One proposal, offered by House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), would also reduce the federal budget deficit by $4 trillion over the next 10 years. Unlike the deficit commission’s proposal, however, Ryan’s budget would produce almost all of its savings from unsustainable cuts to discretionary spending and Medicare and Medicaid programs, while doing little in the way of tax reform to promote economic growth and to better ensure we all pay our fair share. We can’t ask working families, senior citizens, the poor, or the disabled to bear this burden alone.

Both Republican and Democratic leaders recognize that we have to act now to reduce the deficit. We must work together and have the courage to make the right decisions to get our country back on the path of fiscal responsibility and prosperity.

Too often, my colleagues focus on deficit reduction as if there are only two solutions: cut spending or raise taxes. An honest approach—and the best approach—would do some of each. In addition, we should find programs in the federal government where we can get better results for less money, as well as rein in spending in the tax code. This balanced approach would encourage long-term economic growth by adjusting our spending and revenues wisely so we can out?educate, out-innovate and out?compete the rest of the world in the 21st Century.

This is no easy task, but our nation’s fiscal and economic future depends on it. In the weeks ahead, congressional leaders and the Obama administration must come together and forge a bipartisan compromise on long-term deficit reduction. We cannot wait any longer.

Legislative Action

To curb our federal deficit, I have focused on crafting policies that achieve better results throughout government for less money.

Currently, I am working to curb waste, fraud and abuse in government programs like Medicare and Medicaid. The federal government loses tens of billions of dollars annually to waste, fraud and abuse in these two programs alone. Addressing these losses allows us to provide these essential programs for seniors, the poor and the disabled while making them as cost effective as possible and better protecting scarce taxpayer dollars.

Earlier this year, I introduced the Reduce Unnecessary Spending Act, which would give the president line-item veto authority to reduce wasteful spending. This bill is co-sponsored by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and 36 other senators of both parties and represents my continued commitment to giving the president the ability to single out earmarks and other non-entitlement spending for cuts.

Last year, President Obama signed the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act into law. I sponsored that bill, along with my friends Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri) and Reps. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.), Charlie Wilson (D-Ohio), Dana Titus (D-Nev.) and Brian Bilbray (R-Calif.), to address government waste and cut unnecessary spending. This law is a perfect example of common-sense bipartisan legislation that provides the federal government with new tools to identify, recover, and hopefully prevent improper federal payments to individuals, organizations, and contractors.

In addition, I recently introduced the Taxpayer Advocacy and Government Accountability Promotion (TAX GAP) Act to lower tax compliance burdens on law-abiding taxpayers. While the overwhelming majority of American families and businesses pay their taxes in full and on time, a number of folks actually underpay what they owe in taxes, creating what is known as the "tax gap." I have always said that one of the best ways we can reduce the deficit is simply by better collecting the taxes that are legally owed to the federal government. My legislation is aimed directly at decreasing our record deficit by strengthening tax code enforcement nationwide.

As you can see, I am working on many fronts to transform our government from a “culture of spendthrift,” which kicks the can of our federal debt down the road to future generations, to a “culture of thrift,” which protects taxpayers’ money, reduces the deficit, and helps strengthen our economy moving forward.

Senator Carper on the Issue

In May, I wrote an op-ed for The News Journal laying out my views on how leaders in Washington should best reduce our deficit and debt. You can read the full piece here.

On July 25, 2011, I discussed the debt ceiling and broader, long-term deficit reduction live on CNBC's "Squawk Box" broadcast.

On July 20, 2011, I discussed the "Gang of Six" plan to reduce the deficit, how it impacts our national debt and debt ceiling, and a long-term path to fiscal responsibility live on CNN's "CNN Newsroom" broadcast.

I answered a constituent question from Sharon in Bear, Del., about the debt ceiling in a recent edition of "Carper's Corner," the blog I keep on this website.

On July 7, 2011, I talked about the debt ceiling live on FOX News' "Happening Now" broadcast.

On July 1, 2011, I discussed deficit reduction on Fox Business Network's "Bulls & Bears" broadcast.