Lawmakers urge supercommittee to ‘go big’ on deficit reduction

A bipartisan group of lawmakers from both houses urged the deficit-reduction supercommittee Wednesday to “go big” as it nears a deadline to avoid mandatory across-the-board cuts, telling the panel it has significant congressional support for a deal that would cut the deficit by about $4 trillion.

But Democrats and Republicans on the supercommittee later held separate meetings amid mounting pessimism that the 12-member panel would be able to reach an agreement.

“We need to find out about whether our Republican colleagues want to continue to negotiate or whether they’ve drawn a hard line in the sand,” said Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), a supercommittee member.

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