Patty Murray Will Co-Chair Debt 'Super Committee'

Panel members likely to call it quits tomorrow

(NEWSER) - If things looked bleak for the super committee yesterday , they're worse in the cold light of today: The legislators tasked with slashing $1.2 trillion from the national deficit will throw in the towel as soon as tomorrow, reports the Washington Post . The signs are ominous at best, with committee member Jon Kyl saying last night an agreement was "pretty doubtful," and seven members having booked appearances on today's talk show circuit, likely to begin the blame game. Over at Politico , Mike Allen reports that the committee hasn't met in three weeks. More»

Democrats, Republicans can't bridge budget differences

(AP) - The bipartisan leadership of a special congressional deficit super committee officially announced today that the panel failed to reach an agreement. Democratic Sen. Patty Murray and Republican Rep. Jeb Hensarling say that despite "intense deliberations" the members of the panel have been unable "to bridge the committee's significant differences." The panel, established to cut at least $1.2 trillion from the budget over 10 years, has been divided from the beginning over taxes and cuts to popular government benefit programs like Medicare. More»

Legislators play the blame game, say there's still time

(NEWSER) - With the super committee's deadline now a matter of mere hours away and reports of the committee's demise rampant , members of the panel took to the talk show airwaves today, with Democrats blaming Republicans, Republicans blaming Democrats, and some managing to sound hopeful for half a second, reports Politico . Without further ado:

• John Kerry, D-Mass. : "We could have a deal in the next two hours." Problem? "One, the calculation politically has been made by (the GOP) that they're going to win the Senate, win the presidency, and they want to wait until next year and just write their own deal. And the second, and most significant block to our doing something right now, is their insistence, insistence, insistence on the Grover Norquist pledge and extending the Bush tax cuts."

Party leaders may have to light a rocket under 'supercommittee'

(NEWSER) - The bipartisan panel tasked with finding ways to cut more than $1 trillion from the federal deficit is only five weeks away from its Nov. 23 deadline, and you might not be flabbergasted to learn that it is having trouble reaching an agreement—or even agreeing on basic starting positions. The 12-member "supercommittee"—split evenly between Democrats and Republicans, and House and Senate members—has been told not discuss its work publicly, but insiders say things are moving very slowly indeed and there will be no consensus unless party leaders step in, the New York Times finds. More»

Downgrade of AAA rating could loom

(NEWSER) - Thanks to the super committee’s super failure, Fitch Ratings has downgraded US debt outlook to negative. Fitch did not lower the US’ AAA rating for long-term treasuries, but a Fitch official says a negative debt outlook often leads to such a downgrade. That decision is not expected until late 2013, CBS News reports. “We didn't expect that the committee would be able to resolve the budget problem in one single go, but we had believed it was possible for the committee to provide a platform for developing a consensus on how to reduce the deficit,” he says. More»