LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. — Debbie Schaeffer, the owner of Mrs. G TV and Appliances, probably did not give the answer the two chairmen of Congress’s powerful tax-writing committees were looking for when they pressed her this week for ideas on a fairer, simpler tax code: “Get rid of the deductions that don’t affect me,” she said.

As talk of tax reform caught Washington’s attention on Tuesday, the comment by Ms. Schaeffer illustrated the central challenge of those eager to overhaul the tax code: Even those who favor eliminating tax breaks want to hang on to the breaks that benefit them.

It is one of the main problems confronting Senator Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Representative Dave Camp, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, who have been struggling almost unnoticed for months to build some momentum behind their bipartisan push to overhaul the federal tax code. Party leaders looked on skeptically, and the American public shrugged and defended its self-interests.

Then on Tuesday, the topic was suddenly at the center of the Washington debate when President Obama traveled to Chattanooga, Tenn., to promote his own ideas for a business-only tax overhaul plan that would raise billions of dollars in revenue for infrastructure improvement, education and manufacturing — a proposal that quickly drew fire from Republicans.