Pennsylvania's Sen. Pat Toomey is a leader on the debt question

The debt limit is usually interesting only to a particular subspecies of policy wonk, but freshman Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) recognized even before taking office in January that it could offer the best chance in years to restructure federal finances.

While Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner was warning that the United States would default on its loans unless Congress quickly raised the $14.3 trillion borrowing limit, Toomey was out front arguing that lawmakers should not do so without first forcing massive cuts in spending and limits on government growth.

That became the basic GOP bargaining position, but with the Aug. 2 deadline closing in, "the prospects are not looking good," Toomey said in an interview. "I'm increasingly worried that we're heading toward the worst-case scenario - a big increase in the debt limit with no changes in this disastrous process for our country."

He said Republicans had failed to develop and sell a concrete plan for reducing the debt, while the White House, he said, has been skillful in portraying them as obstructionists.

"They enticed us into a series of negotiations that went nowhere and were able to run out the clock," Toomey said. "They exaggerated fears of economic catastrophe. . . . These tactics were well thought up."

In his first six months as a senator, Toomey has positioned himself as the Republicans' Mr. Debt, hammering on the theme that fears of a default if the borrowing limit is not raised are exaggerated for political effect and pushing a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution.

Although he has not been at the mahogany oval table in the White House Cabinet Room with President Obama and congressional leaders, congressional insiders and outside analysts say Toomey could have some influence over the outcome. Over time, he has assembled a bloc of about two dozen GOP senators and more than 100 conservative House members, many of them elected with tea-party support, behind the premise that restructuring the budget is crucial.

"I do think Pat was the first to really make the case that a default would not happen," said Michael D. Tanner, senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute, who studies fiscal issues. "When he came out with it, nobody in leadership had any idea what he was talking about."