http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203611404577046462591453298.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), co-chair of the supercommittee, tells reporters outside his office that the deficit reduction panel would work over the weekend as the deadline for its work nears, on Capitol Hill in Washington Friday.
WASHINGTON—Congress's last-gasp deficit-cut talks broke into two tracks Friday, with members of a special committee continuing to seek an elusive $1.2 trillion deal while party leaders discussed a smaller, backup plan in case they fail.
Talk of a Plan B reflected the bleak outlook facing the committee as it heads into its final days. It technically has until Wednesday, but the real deadline is midnight Monday, since members by law need 48 hours to scrutinize any plan before voting on it.
If Congress falls back to a smaller plan, or stumbles completely, automatic spending cuts would kick in to bring the total deficit cut over 10 years to $1.2 trillion. Such an outcome would be seen as a failure, including by lawmakers who created the committee with the express purpose of hammering out a sweeping deficit-cutting deal that has eluded them all year long.
Congressional leaders working on the debt committee have started discussing a fallback option of a smaller deficit deal, WSJ Washington bureau chief Jerry Seib reports on the News Hub.
Committee members plan to meet through the weekend. On Friday, some were holed up for hours in the rooms of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which is led by Sen. John Kerry (D., Mass.), a supercommittee member.
A growing disappointment gripped the Capitol as reality set in that the hopes of a deal were fading fast, leaving lawmakers likely to return to their districts for the Thanksgiving holiday facing unhappy voters.
"We are painfully, painfully aware of the deadline that is staring us in the face," said Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R., Texas), co-head of the panel. "We have 12 good people who have worked hard since this committee has been created to try to find sufficient common ground."
Financial markets have wobbled in recent days, largely because of grim news on the European debt crisis, but also because of the apparent stalemate in Washington. That pressure might force action over the weekend.
Some in the markets think a failure could put the U.S. credit rating back on the table.
Any attempt by the committee to put off difficult decisions would lack credibility, said Steven Hess, lead analyst on U.S. government debt at Moody's Investors Service. Moody's, which unlike Standard & Poor's still rates U.S. debt triple-A, said the outcome of the deliberations "will be informative...but not decisive."
Richard W. Fisher, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said Friday the country needs a long-term plan to cut the debt. "The bond market will take vengeance unless our elected officials get their act together," he said.
Others were less concerned. "We've got a 9% approval rating," said Rep. Pat Tiberi (R., Ohio). "Most Americans don't believe that we can come up with something anyway, so I don't know that the markets are going to react to us not being able to get the $1.2 trillion."
Seeking a backup deal, House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) offered Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) a plan that would cut the deficit by $643 billion but leave out tax increases or cuts to Medicare or Medicaid, items that have proven the most controversial.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus is surrounded by reporters after leaving a meeting with fellow members of the deficit supercommittee in the Capitol on Friday.
But the same politics that bedeviled the broader effort are stymieing the smaller one, and Democrats rejected Mr. Boehner's plan, saying it included only $3 billion in tax increases, with the rest from spending cuts and interest savings.
Republicans said that mischaracterizes the plan, which they said includes $229 billion in new revenue from various nontax sources, including selling federal properties, selling broadband spectrum and increasing airport security fees.
In deference to a longtime Democratic complaint, Republicans threw in a proposal to end a special tax break for corporate-jet owners. Repealing it would raise about $3 billion over 10 years.
"There was nothing in the package that Democrats could call controversial," said a GOP leadership aide. A Democratic aide called the proposal "laughable and disappointing."
A Democratic aide called the effort an informal "spitballing" of ideas.
Much of the negotiation has progressed this way, full of smoke and obfuscation, with the sides disagreeing even on what has been proposed. Friday's recriminations signaled how far apart they remain.
If there is no deal or a partial one, automatic cuts will kick in starting in 2013. Half of the cuts—whether they amount to $1.2 trillion or a smaller amount—will come from defense and the other half from domestic programs. Several categories important to Democrats are exempted, including Social Security, Medicaid and payments to Medicare beneficiaries.
Negotiations aimed at a complete deal now are largely being conducted by six supercommittee members, mostly senators, who met for several hours Thursday night and again Friday. It was the first time in several days such a large bipartisan group had met.
One question facing both sides is whether a smaller deal is better than none at all.
Sen. Kerry attacked the idea of settling for a smaller package. "We were sent here to do $1.2 trillion, or $1.5 trillion, or $4 trillion," he said. "So the idea on Friday of settling for half of what the American people need and what we were sent here to do is unacceptable to me."
Republicans, stressing that they still want the biggest deal possible, have been more receptive to the notion of a smaller package, in part to stave off deep defense cuts.
The White House has no plans for President Barack Obama to get involved in the supercommittee process after he returns to Washington Sunday from a trip to Hawaii, Australia and Indonesia.
If the committee fails, Mr. Obama will declare the process a wasted opportunity and tell lawmakers they have a year to fix the problem, a senior administration official said.
"We're not getting sucked into being legislator in chief," the official said. "This is a job Congress gave itself. If there was a constructive role to play we would do it."
—Jonathan Cheng and Carol E. Lee contributed to this article.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203611404577046462591453298.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
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new words
1 co-chair
chair [transitive]
to be the chairperson of a meeting or committee:
2 supercommittee
3 deficit
def‧i‧cit [countable]
the difference between the amount of something that you have and the higher amount that you need
4 panel
pan‧el [countable]
a group of people with skills or specialist knowledge who have been chosen to give advice or opinions on a particular subject
5 nears
near3 written
(1) [transitive] to come closer to a place [= approach]:
She began to feel nervous as she neared the house.
The ship was nearing the harbour.
(2) [transitive] to come closer to being in a particular state:
The work is nearing completion.
He's 55 now, and nearing retirement.
(3) [transitive] to come closer to a particular time:
He was nearing the end of his stay in India.
(4) [intransitive] if a time nears, it gets closer and will come soon:
He got more and more nervous as the day of his departure neared.
6 Capitol Hill
Capitol Hill
(1) the US Congress
(2) the hill in Washington D.C. where the Capitol building stands
7 last-gasp
gasp2 [countable]
(1) when you take in a breath suddenly in a way that can be heard, especially because you are surprised or in pain
gasp of
With a gasp of pure horror, Lewis jumped up and ran.
She gave a little gasp and clutched George's hand.
(2) when you breathe in air quickly because you are having difficulty breathing:
Her breath came in shallow gasps.
(3)
somebody's/something's last gasp
the time when someone is about to die, or when something is about to stop happening or existing:
the last gasp of an industry in decline
8 elusive
e‧lu‧sive
(1) an elusive person or animal is difficult to find or not often seen:
She managed to get an interview with that elusive man.
(2) an elusive result is difficult to achieve:
She enjoys a firm reputation in this country but wider international success has been elusive.
(3) an elusive idea or quality is difficult to describe or understand:
For me, the poem has an elusive quality.
—elusively adverb
9 outlook
out‧look [countable]
(1) your general attitude to life and the world
outlook on
He's got a good outlook on life.
Exercise will improve your looks and your outlook.
positive/optimistic outlook
She still has an optimistic outlook for the future.
(2) [usually singular] what is expected to happen in the future
outlook for
The outlook for the weekend is unsettled, with periods of heavy rain.
The outlook for sufferers from this disease is bleak.
economic/financial/political etc outlook
a gloomy economic outlook in Western Europe
(3) a view from a particular place:
a very pleasing outlook from the bedroom window
10 technically
technically adverb
tech‧ni‧cally S3
(1) according to the exact details of a rule or law
[sentence adverb]
Technically, the two countries are still at war, as a peace treaty was never signed.
[+ adjective/adverb]
What you have done is technically illegal.
(2) [+ adjective/adverb] concerning the special skills that are needed to play music, do a sport etc:
a technically brilliant pianist
The dance looks simple, but is technically very difficult.
(3) concerning the way machines are used to do work:
Agriculture is becoming more and more technically advanced.
(4)technically possible/difficult/feasible etc
H possible, difficult etc using the scientific knowledge that is available now:
It could soon be technically possible to produce a human being by cloning.
11 scrutinize
12 stumbles
13 hammering
14 eluded
15 fallback
16 Hub
17 gripped
18 Thanksgiving
19 wobbled
20 grim
21 stalemate
22 credibility
23 Moody's
24 vengeance
25 come up with
26 Medicare
27 Medicaid
28 bedeviled
29 mischaracterizes
30 spectrum
31 deference
32 complaint
33 Repealing
34 GOP
35 aide
36 spitballing
37 recriminations
38 kick in
39 exempted
40 beneficiaries
41 bipartisan
42 receptive
43 stave
44 sucked
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