As co-leader of the new congressional committee on deficit reduction, Washington's Sen. Patty Murray will wrestle with a monumental problem that already has a proposed solution. Three of them, in fact.

In the past year, three bipartisan panels — commonly referred to as Simpson-Bowles, Domenici-Rivlin and the Senate's Gang of Six — have hashed out recommendations on how best to stanch the federal government's trillions of dollars of red ink. Though the groups' prescriptions varied, all three called for dramatic cuts in spending and billions of dollars in new taxes.

Given those templates, the challenge confronting Murray and the 11 other members of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction is less fiscal than political. Republicans in Congress steadfastly oppose raising additional revenue. Democrats are equally adamant about tacking on some new taxes to blunt the blow from spending cuts that would fall most heavily on poor and working-class Americans.

Almost by definition, any blueprint for cutting $1.5 trillion over 10 years from the deficit that gets majority support from the panel would entail alienating core supporters in one — or both — parties.

"There are certainly personal and political perils involved in serving on this panel," said Sheila Krumholz, executive director for the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington, D.C., watchdog group. "It will take some political courage to sacrifice constituents' concerns for the greater good."

Still, Krumholz noted that Murray, a fourth-term Democrat, won't have to face any voters' wrath soon, having won another six years on the job last November. Krumholz said the panelists on the whole are secure incumbents seemingly chosen in part for their ability to withstand attacks.

And the partisan rift over the debt may give Murray a chance to emerge at the end as a stateswoman. Though she belongs to the Senate Democratic leadership team and serves as her party's chief fundraiser for Senate candidates, Murray sometimes appears overshadowed by her more overtly ambitious colleagues.

"If they are able to come to an agreement, they will be hailed as heroes by most people," said Dan Schnur, former political strategist who worked for Sen. John McCain's 2000 presidential run and for former California Gov. Pete Wilson.

Schnur considers the deficit panel Murray's most consequential test of leadership, bigger even than her chairmanship of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC).

"Campaign committees are about politics. This is about the country's future," said Schnur, who now directs the Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California.

Murray, 60, is one of the Senate's liberal stalwarts. The daughter of a disabled World War II veteran who lived in a mobile home in Bothell, Murray seems to feel a visceral kinship with those who rely on Social Security, Medicaid, unemployment benefits and other social programs she champions.

AARP Washington lauded Murray's pick for the committee, viewing her as a crucial voice to look out for seniors and the poor during deficit negotiations. Murray is the lone female on the panel.

Although a loyal lieutenant of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, of Nevada, Murray has at times bucked her party and Reid, particularly in defending the interests of her home state.

For instance, Washington's economy is heavily dependent on international trade, and Murray has broken ranks with many Democrats in advocating for free trade. She and Reid are divided over whether to build a nuclear-waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev.

Reid doesn't want the radioactive-waste dump in his state; Murray wants to move the plutonium waste out of Hanford nuclear reservation in the Tri-Cities area.

But parochial or partisan interests presumably will have to take a back seat while Murray and her co-chairman, Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, herd the deficit "supercommittee" members toward consensus.

The committee is split evenly among Democrats and Republicans, half hailing from the Senate and the other from the House. The panel must sign off on a plan by Nov. 23 for a vote by the two chambers. If the committee can't agree on a plan, or Congress fails to pass it, across-the-board cuts to defense, Medicare and other programs will kick in.

Since Reid appointed Murray to the supercommittee Tuesday, she has repeatedly emphasized her willingness to bridge the partisan divide.

She has acknowledged the need to cut spending on government services and to make changes to entitlement programs.

At the same time, she has insisted any retrenchment must be a "shared sacrifice," though she has been careful not to declare new revenues as a nonnegotiable demand.

In response to questions about her new role, Murray said in a statement that she joined the panel "to take on the serious task of tackling the debt and deficit in a bipartisan and balanced way that works for families in Washington state and across America. I am certainly not concerned about any personal political risks — that was not a consideration for me."

Republicans and some independent observers continue to criticize Murray for accepting the simultaneous tasks of hitting up campaign donors, including lobbyists, while helping steer federal budget cuts.

Ron Haskins, a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution and an expert on welfare issues, believes Reid should have bypassed Murray.

"Everything she does has to be seen through that political filter," Haskins said. "There is obviously a conflict of interest here."

Schnur, the former political strategist, doesn't see it that starkly. After all, he said, the final deficit package may not even get Murray's vote. Krumholz believes the potential for conflict is real, though she conceded that given the perennial need to raise money for re-elections, few members of Congress can claim total independence.

Already, interest groups have begun lobbying by proxy, ahead of the deficit panel's first meeting next month.

AARP publicly urged the negotiators not to forget that cuts to health and retirement programs "could undermine the standard of living today and for future middle class generations."

The National Republican Congressional Committee, on the other hand, took a comment by President Obama in Michigan last week on the need to accelerate growth and job creation as a warning to voters that Democrats are doubling down on "job-destroying taxes."

All that, Schnur said, guarantees "there is no way for any member of this committee to make everybody happy."

Kyung Song: 202-662-7455 or ksong@seattletimes.com