Democrats and Republicans have been exchanging volleys without much discernible progress in efforts to avoid the so-called “fiscal cliff” that looms at the end of the year.But U.S. Rep. John Barrow, fresh off a convincing win to hold onto his seat despite the Republican-controlled Legislature’s redrawing of the 12th Congressional District earlier this year, is “cautiously optimistic” a deal will be forged sometime before the deadline.If a deal isn’t struck in time, the Bush tax cuts will expire for everyone and deep, across-the-board spending cuts will take effect. The combined loss of income to taxpayers and loss of government contracts to private industry would likely plunge the fragile economic recovery back into a deep recession, many economists predict.But Barrow, a Blue Dog Democrat with a reputation for crossing party lines on some votes, said the re-election of President Barack Obama eliminates a major obstacle to negotiations between Democrats and Republicans.The presidential campaign “made it impossible for folks in a divided government to cooperate because neither side wanted to give up an advantage going into the election, didn’t want the other side to look good,” Barrow said. “Now that that’s behind us, now that the voters have settled that issue at least, now we can focus on the other things that have been keeping us from getting together.”Barrow predicted that whatever deal is struck to avoid the fiscal cliff will be a “down payment on a big deal that will take effect at the first of the year to postpone the effect of this” and that both sides would continue to come together in 2013 to forge a more comprehensive agreement.Tax reformOther big-ticket items Congress must deal with, he said, include reforming the federal tax code and reducing the national debt.The tax code is experiencing “atherosclerosis,” Barrow said, because of a number of loopholes that have been added over the years.