Deficit Reduction

Just recently, a 12-member congressional "supercommittee" is going to start to try to rein in the out of control deficits. This "supercommittee" is made up of 6 House members and 6 senators. Most of them were appointed to the committee because their careers have exhibited party loyalty. They have until November 23 to find $1.5 trillion in deficit cuts over the next decade. Cutting $1.5 trillion off the deficit through 2021 will only reduce projected federal spending no more than 4%. In order to achieve this $1.5 trillion reduction "both sides are fairly entrenched in the positions they've held all year". The conservatives want to shrink the size of the government and tackle the main driver's of the nation's debt (entitlements). Liberals believe that revenues are needed in order to solve the problem. John Boehner believes that tax increases are destroying jobs. Republicans also believe that taxes need to be cut. If the supercommittee fails, an automatic across the board spending cut equal to $1.2 trillion would be triggered. This would be especially hard on the military. Will the supercommittee work together and achieve this goal?