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Supercommittee to Give Up

SURRENDER

Co-chairs will reportedly announce failure Monday.

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Bill Clark / FILE / Getty Images

Compromise is not one of the supercommittee's superpowers. Tasked with cutting the federal deficit by at least $1.2 trillion by this Wednesday's deadline, the panel of 12 lawmakers is expected to admit defeat as soon as Monday in a joint statement from the co-chairs. The bipartisan group hasn't been able to agree on anything, and aides tell CNN that the legislators are now focusing on exactly how to announce their failure. Sen. Pat Toomey, one of six Republican Congress members on the committee, admitted that a deal will be "very difficult." The unfinished business will trigger automatic budget cuts and will likely set up a year-end battle, as Congress is expected to fight over whether to cut emergency jobless benefits and extend an expiring payroll tax break.

Read it at Washington Post