WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans would probably agree to higher tax rates on the wealthiest Americans if it meant getting a chance to overhaul costly government entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security, a GOP senator predicted Sunday.

The comments by Bob Corker of Tennessee — a fiscal conservative who has been gaining stature in the Senate as a pragmatic deal broker — puts new pressure on House Speaker John Boehner and other Republican leaders to rethink their long-held assertion that even the very rich shouldn't see their rates go up next year. GOP leaders have argued that the revenue gained by hiking the top two tax rates would be trivial to the deficit, and that any tax hike hurts job creation.

But Corker says insisting on that red line — especially since President Barack Obama won re-election after campaigning on raising tax rates on the wealthy — might not be wise.