FILE - This Oct. 6, 2011 file photo shows Senate Banking Committee member Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. listening during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. Corker is spending a lot of

FILE - This Oct. 6, 2011 file photo shows Senate Banking Committee member Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. listening during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. Corker is spending a lot of time lately talking to Democrats. The freshman lawmaker from Tennessee spoke briefly last week with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner after he unveiled his 10-year, $4.5 trillion solution to averting the end-of-year, double economic hit of tax hikes and automatic spending cuts. Deficit-cutting maven Erskine Bowles had forwarded Corker's proposal to White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)