Republicans in the Congress filled out their brackets today by naming the six lawmakers who will be on the special House-Senate Committee on the deficit.

The choices from the Senate were Sen. John Kyl of Arizona, Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio and Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.

The House GOP picks were Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas, and two Republicans from Michigan, Rep. Dave Camp and Rep. Fred Upton.

None of those choices is what I might describe as a "Tea Party" lawmaker, though Toomey has long championed tough budget medicine.

Like Toomey, Portman is a former Congressman; Kyl is the second-ranking Republican in the Senate.

On the House side, Hensarling is part of the GOP leadership, while Camp and Upton chair major committees in the House - Camp runs the tax-writing Ways and Means panel while Upton chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Of the six, Upton stands out as the biggest surprise, since he has been accused through the years of not being conservative enough.

Upton's ratings by the American Conservative Union were 72 in 2009 and 2010, 44 in 2008 and 56 in 2007.

But Upton's pick makes sense when you look at the committee he chairs, which deals with health issues.

Those six Republicans join three Senate Democrats, Sen. John Kerry, Sen. Patty Murray and Sen. Max Baucus on the deficit panel.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi must still name three House Democrats to the special committee.

The panel - created as part of the recent debt limit law - must come up with $1.5 trillion in budget savings by Thanksgiving.

If the committee deadlocks, then across-the-board budget cuts would kick in; those cuts would also happen if the House and Senate fail to approve a budget cutting plan as well.