Supercommittee hopes to meet 11/23 deadline

WASHINGTON -- The congressional "supercommittee" is at a difficult point in negotiations on a deficit-reduction deal, but lawmakers said yesterday they had not given up on reaching an agreement by the Nov. 23 deadline.

The special congressional committee is tasked with finding at least $1.2 trillion in federal budget savings over 10 years, but with the deadline looming, Republicans and Democrats on the panel have yet to seal a deal.

Republicans have been reluctant to allow tax increases, and Democrats do not want to agree to cuts in health care and retirement programs until tax increases are on the table.

Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), committee co-chairman, acknowledged on CNN's "State of the Union" that tax increases were likely to have to be part of any bipartisan deal.

"We believe that, frankly, increasing tax revenues could hurt the economy, but within the context of a bipartisan negotiation with Democrats, clearly they are a reality," he said.

Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), a supercommittee member, said on "Fox News Sunday" that while he was "very hopeful" a compromise could be reached by the deadline, "I am not as certain as I was 10 days ago." Clyburn added: "I really believe that all of the ingredients for a good resolution are there. We just need to build the will."

Said Hensarling: "It's been a roller-coaster ride. We haven't given up hope, but if this was easy, the president of the United States and the speaker of the House would have gotten it done themselves."

A dispute over taxes had scuttled negotiations during the summer between President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on a broad deficit-reduction package.

The committee of six Democrats and six Republicans is struggling to meet the deadline that is less than two weeks away. Once a deal is reached, Congress will have until Dec. 23 to vote on the committee's recommendations.

If either deadline goes unmet, automatic spending cuts would be triggered on domestic and military programs, beginning in 2013, as part of a law enacted in August.

Obama spoke Friday by telephone with the supercommittee co-chairs, Hensarling and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), to urge that the panel meet the deadline.