After 'supercommittee' fail, scrambling begins

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is using Congress' own leverage against it, signaling it will go through with $55 billion a year in defense cuts if Congress can't find at least $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction before the next election.

A bipartisan congressional "supercommittee" announced Monday it was unable to propose $1.2 trillion in deficit cuts. By its inaction, the 12-member panel failed to defuse the trigger mechanism on a budget bomb that will automatically cut defense spending starting in 2013.

Now the full Congress has a year to come up with offsetting cuts, or President Obama says he'll implement the backup plan mandated by law, which also includes an equal amount of cuts in domestic spending.

Immediately after the supercomittee's collapse, top Republicans on the armed services committees said they would seek to undo automatic defense cuts they voted for as part of the August debt limit deal.

Rep. Buck McKeon, R-Calif., said he will introduce a bill soon to prevent "catastrophic damage" to national security. "Our military has already contributed nearly half a trillion to deficit reduction," he said. "Those who have given us so much, have nothing more to give."

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said he would "pursue all options" to undo the defense cuts.

But White House press secretary Jay Carney said there's "no wiggle room" in Obama's threat to veto those attempts.

"I mean, why do you think people are so cynical about how Congress works? If they pass a law that's supposed to hold them responsible for their actions and then say, never mind," Carney told reporters Tuesday aboard Air Force One en route to New Hampshire.

Carney said the concern about defense is "understandable" but added, "there is an easy way out here, which is be willing to ask the wealthiest Americans to pay a little bit more in order to achieve this comprehensive and balanced deficit reduction plan, and then the sequester will never kick in. "

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta repeated his warning of "devastating, automatic, across-the-board cuts that will tear a seam in the nation's defense."

He also backed the president's play. "Congress cannot simply turn off the sequester mechanism," which he said would be "the easy way out."

An overnight Gallup Poll showed Americans are skeptical about Congress' ability to balance the budget.

Findings: 82% said they were at least "somewhat" worried about prospects for deficit reduction, and 54% said Congress "should have compromised their beliefs" to get a deal done.

Fifty-five percent assigned blame to both parties equally, while 24% blamed Republicans and 15% Democrats. The survey of 1,001 adults has a margin of error of +/- 4 percentage points.