Tennessee Republican U.S. Senator Bob Corker said Thursday that a congressional deficit supercommittee must reach a deal by November 23, adding that if a deal is not reach it “never will be.”
Speaking with Bloomberg, the Tennessee Republican said the latest reports emerging from the debt committee leads him to believe a deal will be reached in time. Reports have questioned whether lawmakers are any closer to reaching a deal than they were nearly two months ago when the committee was formed.
“We are not quite at the deadline. Usually, things do not happen until they have to happen. I think we will end up with a deal,” Mr. Corker said. “I am really pleased with what our three Republican senators have been doing. They have shown some flexibility towards wanting to making a deal. Ultimately, I think they will.”
Mr. Corker warned lawmakers against stalling, pointing to recent unrest in parts of Europe, where austerity measures have taken effect.
“They need to come to a deal. There is no question that a sequester that is going to take place in January as a chance of not actually occurring,” the Tennessee Republican said. “We were talking before as we watch what happened in Europe. We understand these countries did not do the things they needed to do in advance. We can see our future playing out if we do not deal with this appropriately. I’m still on the page that a deal is going to happen.”
The 12-member bipartisan committee known as the “supercommittee” has until November 23 to break a deadlock between Republicans and Democrats and suggest deficit reduction measures to be voted by Congress. The committee is tasked with eliminating upwards of $1.2 trillion from the budget, however, lawmakers have suggested spending cuts totaling upwards of $3 trillion.
