Republicans and Democrats on Congress's deficit panel have come up short, and a slew of automatic spending cuts are set to follow
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) co-chaired the 12-member panel. Credit: J. Scott Applewhite/AP
The bipartisan congressional committee tasked with finding at least $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction announced on Monday it cannot reach agreement by the Wednesday deadline, a stark if not unexpected admission that its efforts have ended in failure.
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"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," the co-chairs Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said.
The declaration came late Monday afternoon in a written statement from the 12-member Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction despite last-second discussions in closed-door meetings.
The committee, in the end, could not resolve that Republicans would not go as far as Democrats wanted on allowing more revenue raisers, and Democrats did not want to move on entitlement reforms. Intense messaging by both political parties on which was more to blame is surely to spill out for days, if not months.