Sen. Toomey says supercommittee negotiations 'at a difficult point'

Two members of the supercommittee working to find consensus on a major deficit-reduction deal said Sunday that there's reason to be hopeful, but little margin for error.

"We still have time, but we have no time to waste," Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) said on Fox News. "It's at a difficult point. I think we've got a ways to go, but I hope we can close that gap."

Toomey and the eleven other members of the bipartisan panel face a Nov. 23 deadline to submit a plan for at least $1.2 trillion in deficit cuts, which will get an up-or-down vote in Congress. If they fail to come up with a plan, an automatic trigger of $1.2 trillion in cuts occurs — half from federal domestic spending and half from defense spending.

Disagreement over the size of cuts to entitlement programs and whether to boost revenues to the federal government have complicated the deliberations.

"We're willing to raise a little more revenue, so we can reduce the deficit," Corbett said. You absolutely can do this in a way that will be pro-growth."

Rep. James Clyburn (S.C.), one of the Democrats on the panel, said he remained hopeful the committee would reach a resolution in time, but that his confidence was diminishing.

"I am not as certain as I was 10 days ago," Clyburn said.

Clyburn said the elements for a good resolution were there, and that he agreed with two-thirds of what Toomey had put on the table, but that the will to move forward was still lacking.

"Democrats have not coalesced around a plan," Clyburn said, later adding that Republicans also lacked a plan.

Clyburn said there is disagreement over whether closing loopholes amounts to a tax increase, and over how savings will be calculated by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

"We've got to come up with a plan that CBO will score, not one that Pat Toomey will dream about," Clyburn said.

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