Congressional Supercommittee Is Far From Reaching Agreement on Debt Reduction Plan

This editorial describes the status of negotiations in the Congressional Supercommitte that is charged with creating a plan to cut the national debt by $1.2 trillion. If the bipartisan committee fails to reach agreement, huge cuts in government spending will occur across the board automatically. It was assumed that the committee would reach a compromise on spending cuts and tax increases to avoid that possibility. The GOP representatives refuse to increase taxes and they are using the default alternative as weapon to get the Democrats to yield on tax increases and to include more cuts in spending. The Democrats have offered more spending cuts but the GOP will not accept any plan that includes tax increases. They are arguing that tax cuts will promote growth that will pay for the tax cuts. Few economists believe that tax cuts can be paid for by stimulating economic growth.