Despite two months of meetings, the supercommittee’s 12 members have little to show in their efforts to reduce the nation’s debt. The committee has failed to reach a consensus on such basic issues such as how much should they cut the debt and whether tax hikes should be part of the solution,
The Washington Post reported.
The lack of progress is beginning to alarm members of Congress who face a Nov. 23 deadline to come up with a deal. Failure by the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to reach a deal that can be approved by Congress by Christmas will trigger $1.2 trillion in across-the-board cuts in January 2013, the Post reported.
“The clock is ticking,” Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., a committee member told the Post. “The next three weeks will be make-or-break for the success of this committee.” The committee was set up in the wake of this summer’s battle to raise the debt ceiling.
Republican committee members have so far refused to consider raising revenue through taxes and Democrats have refused to agree to entitlement cuts without new taxes, sources told the Post.
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