Super Committee Super Failure

By Sean Lengell

The congressional debt-reduction committee, which began more than two months ago amid a rush of bipartisan hope that it could find significant budget savings, ended with a whimper Monday as the panel unceremoniously announced it had failed to reach a deal.

“After months of hard work and intense deliberations, we have come to the conclusion today that it will not be possible to make any bipartisan agreement available to the public before the committee’s deadline,” said a joint statement issued late afternoon by the panel’s co-chairmen; Sen. Patty Murray, Washington state Democrat, and Rep. Jeb Hensarling, Texas Republican.

The pair said that despite the so-called supercommittee’s inability to bridge the committee’s significant differences, “we end this process united in our belief that the nation’s fiscal crisis must be addressed and that we cannot leave it for the next generation to solve.

“We remain hopeful that Congress can build on this committee’s work and can find a way to tackle this issue in a way that works for the American people and our economy.”

The announcement, which came as little surprise, was issued hours before a midnight deadline for the committee to come up with a plan.

The six Democrats and six Republicans on the panel began meeting in September several times a week — sometimes more than once a day. But as the negotiations slagged on through autumn, full gathering became less frequent, with the two parties choosing instead to meet separately.

In recent days the talks had denigrated into a full-blown blame game, with each side accusing the other of refusing to compromise in good faith.

The committee’s failure now triggers $1.2 trillion in automatic across-the-board spending cuts, about have coming at the Pentagon. But many lawmakers have vowed to undue the process, particularly Republicans who say the defense cuts would compromise national security.

White House on Monday blasted Republican lawmakers for the impending failure of the congressional supercommittee to agree on a deficit-reduction plan.

“So far, Republicans in the Congress have not approached it in a balanced way,” said presidential spokesman Jay Carney. “In the end, it comes down to decisions by Republicans” to resist raising taxes on wealthier Americans.

The supercommittee — a compromise resulting from summer’s hard-fought deal to raise the debt ceiling — officially has until Wednesday night to vote on a plan to lower federal budget deficits by $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years. But, because the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office by law must have an analysis of the proposal ready 48 hours beforehand, the real deadline for a deal is the end of Monday.

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