The Not-So-Super Committee on Debt Reduction
Almost no one had high or even medium hopes for the congressional super committee on deficit reduction. The 12-member committee was established earlier this year as part of the deal to raise the debt ceiling; six Democrats, six Republicans, three each from the House and Senate. Their task: Come up with at least $1.2 trillion in budget savings (over, ahem, 10 years). Failing a deal by Thanksgiving, automatic across-the-board cuts would take effect. With a federal budget approaching $4 trillion every year, this task seemed neither tall nor especially consequential. Yet politics is as politics does, and the committee's efforts have all but collapsed.
