Time running out for the "super-committee"

With time running out, senior Democrats and Republicans remained unclear Tuesday about the prospects of success for the so-called congressional "super committee". The 12-member panel has not yet found a deal to cut $1.2 trillion from the nation’s borrowing over the next decade, the minimum requirement outlined in the August debt deal that resulted in the creation of the powerful super committee. California Rep. Xavier Becerra, a Democratic member of the panel, told reporters this could be a "magical week" for the committee. "I think it can be done, but the clock is ticking," Becerra said. It simply "has to be a balanced deal." House Speaker John Boehner said there was no deal, but predicted that if "there is an agreement ... it can, in fact, pass." And as the committee members grope to find a way to fulfill at least their legal mandate without leaving their political bases feeling betrayed, a bipartisan group of senators and representatives will renew a call Wednesday for the group to agree to a much larger deal, a bargain to reduce the debt by as much as $4 trillion that would virtually require major entitlement program and tax changes painful to both parties.