Sen. Manchin makes pitch for seat on 'supercommittee'

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has asked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) for a spot on the "supercommittee" that will look for more than $1 trillion in deficit cuts.

"I respectfully request the opportunity to serve as a member of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction created by the Budget Control Act of 2011," Manchin wrote in a letter to Reid sent last week. "If selected, I will commit to working across party lines to achieve commonsense solutions, and I believe that my record demonstrates a strong capacity to accomplish these goals."

The legislation passed to raise the debt limit establishes a bipartisan, bicameral committee of lawmakers to find up to $1.5 trillion in deficit cuts. The panel's recommendations, if approved by a majority on the committee, will be sent to Congress for an up-or-down vote.

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) have until Aug. 16 to choose three members each from their ranks to sit on the panel.

Since the legislation passed, political observers have been speculating about who will be chosen to sit on the committee. So far, Democrat and Republican leaders have given few clues about who they might pick.

Democrats and Republicans haven't been shy about saying what they hope to achieve on the committee, however. Democrats have said everything should be on the negotiating table, including tax increases, while Republicans have vowed to reject any deficit-cutting proposal that includes tax hikes.

Manchin's letter is dated the same day that Obama signed the debt-ceiling increase bill into law.

Read the letter below: