Here’s a riddle for you: What kind of ship is it that often comes apart even before it sets sail for the first time? Bipartisanship.

That doesn’t stop politicians from trying, nor should it. It’s just a sad reality of our modern political age that efforts to forge coalitions across party lines are increasingly hard to keep together long enough to create any meaningful results.

Virginia Senator Mark Warner is working with his fellow Democrats, as well as Republicans, in an attempt to reframe the debate about the federal budget. Together, they hope to achieve a $4 trillion deficit reduction in the next decade.

In the recent past, talk of fiscal responsibility has centered on domestic discretionary spending—something that accounts for less than 12 percent of the federal budget.

"We need to reform what’s really driving our debt problem: an antiquated tax code that gives away more than it takes in through too many loopholes and special interest t...