A Republican senator on the supercommittee said Thursday it’s getting “late in the game” for the panel to strike a deal and raised the possibility of changing the automatic cuts that will be triggered if the Nov. 23 deadline isn’t met.
"It's obviously late in the game. Discussions are continuing. I can't give you a prediction of an outcome at this point, except to say we're still at work," Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) said on CNBC.
With the deadline for the committee's proposal less than a week away and the committee at an impasse, fears that a deal won't be reached in time have risen.
If the group fails to propose at least $1.2 trillion in budgetary savings by Nov. 23, across the board cuts to security and
discretionary spending totaling $1.2 trillion will take effect in 2013.
Toomey said he hopes the composition of those cuts would be revisited if the supercommittee fails.
"In the very unfortunate event that our committee won't be successful — and I still hope we will — but if not, I think we would have a very concerted effort to reconfigure," Toomey said.
He said the triggered spending reductions won't make meaningful changes to entitlement programs and are too heavy on defense cuts.
"In the event that we're not successful, I think it's important that we reconfigure," he said.
Toomey, along with Democratic supercommittee member Rep. Chris Van
Hollen (D-Md.), tried Friday to downplay talk the deficit-reduction panel is a lost cause.
"We're going to stay at it," Toomey said in an interview on CNN. "It's not going to be easy. Time is running short, but it hasn't run out yet."
For the latest on the progress of the supercommittee, click here.
